

o N u 


^ «* * ° z ^ ** 
A 


" ^ % o 

<y 




v° ^ ■%. -; 


" 3 N 0 ’ ^ ''»,,,»• i' J 

^O V * * * 0 , > .O* N s V ' 


^ X 

r ' 'Kc. * 

° ^ - j ;> 

° ,\^ y ^f‘- ° '■■ ‘ 

C** t> 



c? 

- \** ^ • 

J 0 9 X * ,a0 X , 

-o' o 0 ' . < -“ t l°% ^ ' *”’ ,#' '°o- f 0 

^ K " ^ n$ 


> ¥* v . t> ^ c? 

V' **'\% N .' 1 * * % '"* 1 

x ^r « A \ ^ . -4 < *j • 



\°°<. 


O o' 

g5 -V 


^VVCsb 3- *** , ^ c^ '-zyy/lPM v A / v^vi v \\vx- ■*> a 

\ 0$*‘ <^V % x n 0 C* y <, o. 

* v * * * ® * > jy. s s * * j* K v N *■ * * 0 

<w» aV * jA S# A "' ^ C> * • 

^ 1 v « y%?w//7 ° 7 V ° ^ '</> \' 

<v o w§M? “ : 

'V ^ ,J * Y? *<• 

^ »S y -A ^ ' . 

o* x* <v **s' 

>“ c 0 N c « 

t> A *f- 




'*$+ (1 


^ V A ^ 

A. Y o » x 

V I » # .X 

■1 o fP . * _T^Xx . ^ _ -f* 



sX V 

o o' 


f 0 N C V 

(V C ^ - V^> 

0° * w ^ 

^ <S rSN\\\W ✓ 


tt it 


° 

* . o 

s'. A '*•- * 


<’ V 

A\ - V * B k *%.+ 

v* ^ 


0 * \ 


0 N 



s / ^ v^«v 0 • o '>w: ^ 

* — • 0- N V t *>> * 9 S * * , * 3 M 0 “» V^ V 










? V- * 



“ <?' .Y, 

: ^ 


v ^ ^7^^ a ^o 

c 0 * C <. <fi 4 ^ Vl8 ^ (X 

^ -A V v _ / v7t_ ^ <J5 (_P .» 

■y Y 

O o' 







,^c- 


s ** r 


•>* C o 

O 0 X 


/ VHf." ^ 

A . V srtMijMr - r> * "& e» a o v 

'■ V ^*, Oj o' ,<■' 

* M V <S 

*> rXS>ss?/ Aj r\ ' 

*> 

1 ^ ^ ° o ^ 

v> ** ° *c 

^ *<> * MuWK\If ^ <A> 


l 


‘X V 

° o x « 


V s * * r * 3 N 0 V 

v S W^^ C ^ ■ V 

1 ^r* - 

</> ,^y « 

=» cl ^ 

* «$* <u. "* 


<t 

H -vv 

C“ 'vt* <* 


rO v 


'\ N 


°A 

C#* * 


•'^V-*. V-’/VcV- 

❖ ae/r??^ ^ ° C » c^scv ^ ^ v)' 

.V ' *ZrtU //'. 2 * v, - -a, y ^ -A\ 

x o o' = j^|»k ; A 1 ' 

’• ^ > 

> \v- a*. * <^^//jyr v ^ * 

,« v ^ *■* , , , A .o° 

V * 1 * 0 r > cy s s ^ 

.->, v * v 
<> ' 







^tf vf ^ * 

' ^7*^' A 

& * 
vD, 

<£ • * ' ^ » V 1 

^ <-k ' ^ 

1 8 « 

^ O 

' ^ aX * l&d 

//vjz, * 


0 * r4S 

Nr\ ^ 

\V%frg / 

a o' : 4 | 

^VlL>8k s 

<* 

.H -A. »•' «^S 

1 ' -- £ ,j <* 




J < 





















THE 



BY 


MRS. EMMA D. E. N 



AUTHOR OF “THE FATAL MARRIAGE,” “RETRIBUTION,” “THE DESERTED WIFE,V 
“LOST HEIRESS, V “DISCARDED DAUGHTER,’/ “ WIFE’S VICTORY,” “ VIVIA,’/ 
“LADY OF THE ISLE,/ “ HAUNTED HOMESTEAD,” “MOTHER-IN-LAW,’ 

“THE TWO SISTERS,” “ THREE BEAUTIES,” “CURSE OF CLIFTON ’’ 


“THE GIPSY’S PROPHECY,” “LOVE’S LABOR WON,” 


t 


a 


THE MISSING BRIDE, 

“ ALLWORTH ABBEY. 


THE BRIDAL EVE , 7 


a INDIA, y 


ETC. 


44 This accident and flood of fortune 
So far exceeds alJ instance, all discourse, 

That 1 am ready to distrust mine eyes, 

And wrangle with my reason, that persuades me 
To any other trust.” — S hakspearb. 

“ Fortune is merry, 

And in this mood will give us any thing.” — I bid. 


.a«c< 0F CQ/N 
COPYRiGHV N 


/^No. 


s^A'OTO"^ ; ' 


t . 


“ Since you will buckle fortune on my back, 

To bear her burden, whether I will or no, 

I must have patience to endure the load.” — Ibid. 



P Ij i l a b c L p I) \ a: N 

T. 13. PETERSON k BROTHERS; 

3 0 6 CHESTNUT STREET. 

* CJL . . ? IV! a 


A 


/y'j y\f~ 

'AT Ss 

‘ J 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by 
T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern 

District of Pennsylvania. 

2d. COPY 

SUPPLIED FROM 

Copyright files 

JANUARY, 1911. 


31 7 > 





MRS. JUDGE JOHN C. UNDERWOOD, 

OP VIRGINIA, 

TRIED AND TRUE, 

IN THE DARKEST DAYS OF HER COUNTRY’S WOE: 

THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, 

WITH THE EARNEST ESTEEM AND AFFECTION 
OF THE AUTHOR. 

E. D. E. N. SOUTH WORTH. 

Prospect Cottage, 

March ls£, 1866 . 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

CHAPTER I. 

THE EMIGRANT SHIP, 25 

CHAPTER II. 

THE FISH BOY’S STRANGE ADVENTURE, 35 

CHAPTER III. 

THE FISII BOY’S PALACE, 46 

CHAPTER IY. 

LOIS HOWARD, 53 

CHAPTER V. 

FARTHER ADVENTURES OF THE FISH BOY, .... 61 

CHAPTER VI. 

A THREATENED DENOUEMENT, 66 

CHAPTER VII. 

WILLIAM FULJOY, ......... 73 

CHAPTER VIII. 

FULKE GREVILLE, . . . . 76 

CHAPTER IX. 

DANEY, 79 

CHAPTER X. 

daney’s HOME, ......... 85 

CHAPTER XI. 

daney’s NEW RESIDENCE, ....... 88 

CHAPTER XII. 

a mystery, 96 


( 21 ) 


22 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE OLD MAN’S DARLING, .... 

• 

. 

# 

pAor 

104 

CHAPTER XIY. 

THE REJECTED BRIDE, 

• 



109 

CHAPTER XY. 

ASTREA, 




117 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CHOSEN ONE, 



• 

122 

CHAPTER XVII. 

ETTA BURNS, 



• 

137 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM, .... 

• 


• 

144 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE LOST BRIDE, 

• 

# 


149 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE BLOODY HAND, . " . 

• 

• 

• 

157 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE INVESTIGATION, 

• 

• 


161 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE BRIDAL CHAMBER, .... 

• 


• 

. 175 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
astrea’s awakening, 


• 


189 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
astrea’s voyage, 


• 

• 

198 

CHAPTER XXV 
astrea’s arrival, 


• 

• 

203 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

WELBY DUNBAR, 

• 

• 

• 

207 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE MARQUISE DE GLACIE, .... 

• 

• 

• 

223 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

TIIE MOTHER’S JOY, 


• 


228 


CONTENTS. 23 

PAGE 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE OLD MAN’S GRIEF, 238 

CHAPTER XXX. 

nopE, 250 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE PRISONER, 259 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

BURNSTOP, 267 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE DEATH OF MAJOR BURNS, 269 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

ASTREA’s PURCHASER, 277 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

A DREAM, 287 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE PLANTATION HOUSE, 295 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE BRIGHT SPECTRE, 299 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

astrea’s feril, 304 

CAAPTER XXXIX. 

ASTREA’S FLIGHT, 314 

CHAPTER XL. 

THE SEARCH, 324 

CHAPTER. XLI. 

the ruse, 333 

CHAPTER XLII. 

sam’s terrors, 339 

I 

CHAPTER XLI1T. 

AT BAY, 348 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE INTERVIEW, . 356 


I 




24 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XLV. 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE FEAST, 


CHAPTER XLYI. 

TIIE MIDNIGHT REVELLERS, . 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE DESTROYER, 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

THE FISH BOY AGAIN, 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

A STARTLING DISCLOSURE, .... 

CHAPTER L. 

ORPHAN ETTIE, 

CHAPTER LI. 

ETTIE ENTERS THE WORLD, .... 

CHAPTER LII. 
ettie’s splendid grandmamma, . 

CHAPTER LIII. 

MRS. GREVILLE’S GRIEF, 

CHAPTER LIY. 

IN THE CHAMBER OF DOOM, .... 


CHAPTER LY. 

THE OLD HOUSE CHANGES OWNERS, 


THE LAST VISION, . 

MYSTERY, 


CHAPTER LYI. 

• • • • • 

CHAPTER LYII. 

• • • # % • 

CHAPTER LYIII. 


ARRIVAL OF AN OLD FRIEND, 


. CHAPTER LIX. 

RECOVERY, 

CHAPTER LX 

nOPE DEFERRED, .... 

CHAPTER LXI. 


all’s WELL THAT ENDS WELL, 




PAGE 

. ' 367 

372 

377 

384 

394 

407 

414 

421 

429 

437 

445 

448 

455 

461 

465 

481 

487 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 




CHAPTER I. 

THE EMIGRANT SHIP. 


There rolls the deep, where grew the tree, 

Oh earth I what changes thou hast seen ! 

There where the long street roars, hath been 
The stillness of the central sea. 

The hills are shadows, and they flow 
From form to form, and nothing stands ; 

They melt like mists, the solid lands, 

Like clouds they shape themselves and go. 

But in my spirit will I dwell, 

And dream my dreams and hold it true; 

For though my lips may breathe adieu, 

I cannot think the thing farewell. — Tennyson. 

It is a scene of vast sublimity and of deep solitude. It 
is midnight on mid-ocean. Above expands* the eternal 
sky. Below rolls the boundless sea. A single black speck 
breaks the infinite monotony of the luminous, dark-blue 
waters. Yet even as our earth rolls, a populous sphere 
through the immensity of space, so that speck sails, a peo- 
pled world, over the loneliness of the midnight sea. 

It is the emigrant ship Star of the West, and her first, 
second, and third cabins are all crowded with passengers. 
Here upon the same decks, under the shelter of the same 
sails, steered by the same hand, and for the same bourne, 
are gathered the extremes of human character and condi- 
tion — of wealth and poverty, of youth and age, of beauty 
and ugliness, of innocence and crime, of virtue and vice, 
of prosperity and adversity, of health and sickness, of 

( 25 ) 


26 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

enjoyment and suffering, of hope and despair, yes, and 
even of life and death, of heaven and hell ! And the pur- 
poses and objects of this mixed crowd of human creatures 
are as various and opposite as their characters and con- 
ditions. 

Here, for instance, is a party of wealthy young noblemen, 
coming over to make a pleasure tour through the world ; 
and there a set of youthful emigrants, sent out by charity 
to hew for themselves a home in the wilderness of the West. 

Here is the prosperous merchant, returning after some 
highly successful speculation, with the rich fruits of his 
business talents, to his native home ; and there the ruined 
bankrupt, coming with the fragments of his financial wreck, 
to reconstruct his fortunes in a foreign land. 

Here is the Christlike missionary, after a long life spent 
in preaching the gospel to the heathen of Farther India, 
returning to die amid his kindred at home ; and next him, 
unsuspected, the fugitive felon, flying before the avenger 
of blood, from country, home, and family. 

Here was the Godlike philanthropist who only breathed 
to benefit mankind, and who was even now bound upon 
some new enterprise of benevolence, and with him, unsus- 
pected, the demoniac gambler, who lived by preying upon 
his fellow-creatures, and who was bent even now upon 
some fresh enterprise of destruction. 

Here the blessed bride, returning from her wedding tour 
to her happy home, sits and smiles beside her worshipping 
bridegroom; while there the broken-hearted widow, leav- 
ing her husband’s grave in that foreign land to which she 
had taken him, an invalid, in the vain search of health, 
and coming to her henceforth desolate hearth, watches and 
weeps alone. 

Here a bevy of gentle sisters of mercy, on their way to 
nurse the sufferers of a plague-stricken southern city, kneel 
and pray in their little cabin ; while in the next division a 
troupe of opera-dancers, engaged to open the season at 

p 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 27 

New York, gather together to discuss their winter pros- 
pects. 

Beside all these extreme cases of good and evil, there 
were a multitude of others of every degree between them — 
passengers who traveled for pleasure, for fashion, or for 
affection — passengers who were returning from visits to 
friends in Europe, and passengers who were coming out on 
visits to relatives in America. 

But of the three ranks of voyagers in the first, second, 
and third cabins, that in the third cabin or steerage con- 
tained the greatest amount of the elements of human 
interest, I had nearly said, of tragic dignity. For here 
were none of the superficial votaries of wealth, fashion, or 
pleasure, seeking money, fame, or excitement. Here were 
crowded together hundreds of poor emigrants, earnest men, 
women, and even children sent out by the company — the 
homeless to seek a home, the famishing to seek food, the 
perishing to seek the means of living — to seek them through 
toil, danger, and suffering — to seek them in the wilderness 
of the West, amid wild beasts and wilder men. 

But in all this crowd of suffering travelers, the deepest 
interest seems to gather around one boy ; for all the other 
emigrants are united in family groups, and this one boy is 
alone ; all the others are destined to certain tracts of coun- 
try in the West, or to certain employments .in the East ; 
but this boy has “ all the world before him where to choose 
the others are all known to each other, but this boy is known 
to none. Where he came from, why he is here, and where 
he is going, are as yet unapparent. 

And yet there is no willing mystery about the poor lad 
— everybody is as welcome to know all about him as he 
knows about himself, which is, indeed, little enough. 

It is now midnight, and the lights are all out and the 
passengers all retired to their berths — all except one or two 
whom excitement keeps up. One of these is the solitary 
boy of the steerage passage. He has walked about in the 


28 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

confined quarters of the lower deck, unable to look far out 
at sea, unable to look out anywhere except at a segment of 
the dark sky, and he is weary of his portion of what to him 
is a moving prison, and he longs with a boyish longing to 
get upon the grand upper deck, with nothing but the mid- 
night sea and sky around him. True, he has seen placards 
up all over the ship to these effects — “ Steerage passengers 
not allowed abaft this.” “ Steerage passengers not allowed 
on the main deck.” “Steerage passengers not allowed on 
the upper deck.” And he had wondered whether, in the 
case of total shipwreck, the steerage passengers would be 
allowed to drown in the same sea with their honors, the 
aristocracy above, or whether they would not be required 
to swim off some miles to leeward, and die of exhaustion at 
a respectful distance. 

Three weeks of close confinement in the steerage passen- 
gers’ quarters of the lower deck had made the boy desperate, 
and this night, notwithstanding all placards, he resolved 
to trespass on forbidden ground, and go upon deck to see 
the open sea and sky, and breathe the fresh air, let the after 
penalty be what it might. It was very dark, still, and 
lonely. He passed without challenge up the starboard 
staircase to the main deck, upon which the saloons of the 
first and second cabin stood. He passed these, and went 
up a second flight of stairs, and reached the upper deck, 
which extended the whole length of the ship, from stem to 
stern. And oh ! the ineffable relief of inhaling the pure, 
fresh air into hot, dry lungs ! it was like cold water to the 
thirsty stomach. 

The brisk breeze met him and welcomed him on deck with 
a sort of conscious, intentional benevolence. It took hold 
of him and turned him around, and shook his clothes and 
fanned his face, and lifted the heavy masses of his black 
hair, threading their tresses with light fingers, and cooling 
his fevered head, like a mother’s hand, the poor boy thought 
— an imaginary mother’s, for he had never known a real 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


29 


one, though his favorite hidden enthusiasm was his ideal 
mother. But this breeze ; this pure, fresh, life-giving, 

: loving breeze ! how strange that it should ever be thought 
to change its mood, and become the furious and destroying 
hurricane ! how wonderful that any should believe the same 
spirit to live in the caressing breeze that brings us new life, 
and the raging wind that threatens us with death ! 

So thought the boy, as he gave himself up to the sub- 
dued delight of being loved by Nature — of being fondled 
I and petted by her hands in the breeze. And thus far he 
j was right ; it was a mother’s hand that caressed the lonely 
i orphan boy, for Nature is the universal mother. 

The boundless ocean was around him, the infinite heavens 
above him ; what if it was all dark, it was not with the 
blackness of a closed room, but with the luminous, lovely 
darkness of the open sea and sky. 

The deck was very lonely. In all its length and breadth 
there were but three persons — the man at the wheel, the 
officer of the watch, and a passenger, leaning over the bul- 
warks forward, and gazing out into the night westward. 
The boy also walked forward, and stood looking toward 
that unseen land of promise in which he was about to seek 
his fortune. 

“ Well, my lad,” said the gentleman passenger, approach- 
ing the new comer as if desirous of whiling away a few 
moments in conversation, “ we are approaching our bourne ! 
We are within three days’ sail of New York.” 

“ I am very glad to hear it, sir.” 

“Oh!” said the gentleman, apparently startled by the * 
unknown voice, “you are a stranger.” 

“ Sir, my name is Welby Dunbar.” 

“ I think I have not seen you out before, Master Dunbar. 
Have you been sea-sick during the whole passage, and is 
this your first appearance on deck?” 

“ I have not been sick, sir, though this is the first time I 
have ventured up on deck. For the truth is, sir, that I 


30 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

am a steerage passenger, and have no right to be here at 
all ; but I was stifled for want of fresh air, and I thought 
there would be no one up here to take offence at my pre- 
sence.” 

“A steerage passenger!” exclaimed the gentleman, re- 
coiling. “You are very crowded down there ! Have you 
any cases of fever ?” 

“ Hot a case of sickness of any sort, sir, thanks to the 
frosty weather.” 

“You are one of the band of emigrants sent out by the 
company to settle a tract of country in Nebraska ?” 

“No sir, I am connected with none of them. I am quite 
alone.” 

“ What ! a boy of twelve years of age, and you cannot 
be more, going out to America quite alone ! What could 
your parents or guardians be thinking of?” exclaimed the 
gentleman, in surprise. 

“ I never had either, sir.” 

“ Never had parents or guardians ! Why, where did you 
spring from ?” 

“From Westminister, London.” 

“ As bad a place as St. Giles’s itself, for all its magnifi- 
cent abbey ! But had you no friends in Westminister, that 
you must come to seek your fortune in America?” in- 
quired the gentleman, becoming rather interested in the 
forlorn condition of this poor boy. 

“ None who were either able or willing to prevent me,” 
replied the lad, who seemed to feel it a great privilege to 
tell his little story of negations to any sympathizing 
listener. 

“ I have never before heard of such a case ! Pray, who 
brought you up ?” 

“ Again, noboby, sir. Who brings up the lost puppies 
and stray kittens ? As far back as I can remember any 
thing about myself, I was a stray child, sometimes in the 
arms of one beggar-woman, and sometimes in the hands of 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


81 


another. Whoever might get hold of me first in the 
morning, to take me out with her to beg, was my mother 
for that day.” 

“ I thought begging was not allowed in London ?” 

“No more it isn’t, sir; that is, downright, barefaced 
begging, isn’t ; but you know, sir, there is more ways of 
killing a dog beside choking him with plum-pudding ; and 
my mothers knew all the dodges. One of them had a dodge 
of holding me out in her arms and looking piteously in the 
faces of the ladies ; and another used to lead me by the 
hand, and carry a little basket of wild violets, and pray the 
ladies to buy a bunch for a penny, for the poor child’s 
sake.” 

“And how old were you then?” 

“ I don’t know, sir, but I must have been as much as 
three years old, since I remember it so well.” 

“Boy!” 

“Sir?” 

“ You talk uncommonly well for one raised as you pre- 
tend to have been. How is that ?” 

“ I went to the ragged school when it was first opened in 
our neighborhood, when I was five years old. I attended 
it regularly up to the time of my leaving England — and 
that was for seven years.” 

“My lad, it seems a little queer to me that your long and 
regular attendance at that school, and your very evident 
intelligence, had not won so much approbation from the 
teachers and directors as to induce some of them to put 
you to some business.” 

“ It did, sir, and they made up a little sum and appren- 
ticed me to a fishmonger in Billingsgate, who kept me all 
night cleaning fish, and all day long crying them through 
the streets. I did not mind the hard work, heaven knows, 
but he would not allow me time to read the books old Moses 
used to lend me from his second-hand book stall ; and oh, 
sir, I tell you what, hunger for books is just as bad as hun- 


82 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

ger for bread. So one day I just run away, and tramped 
down to Liverpool and got aboard this ship ; and I am 
working my passage over .’ 7 

“ It was a bad beginning, my boy, to run away from your 
master.” 

“ Yes, sir, I know it was ; but I did it to seek my own 
fortune — to seek some employment that would give me food 
and clothing, and leave me time to read also.” 

“ If your master would not allow you this, you should 
have complained to the kind friends that paid your appren- 
tice fee and placed you with him .’ 7 

“Ah, sir, if my master had starved my body, and I had 
made complaint, I should have had redress, but as he only 
starved my mind, my complaint would have been dismissed j 
as impertinent ; for you see it was thought that I had got 
all my dues of learning at the ragged school . 77 

“ But it seems that the little knowledge you acquired 
there, only created in you an appetite for more . 77 

“Just so, sir, and not a morsel was given me to satisfy 
my hunger . 77 

“You thought there was nothing for it but to run away, 
then ?” 

“Yes, sir; some, you see, are tempted by money, and 
some by one thing, and some by another. Now if ever I 
should be led to commit a sin, it would be to get knowl- 
edge . 77 

“ The first temptation that ruined mankind ! The original 
sin that brought death into the world ! Take care, my boy ; 
you began by committing a fault, mind that you do not end 
in perpetrating a crime . 77 

“I shall take care, sir . 77 

“ What, now, do you expect to do in New York ; you, a 
friendless boy, cast penniless upon a foreign shore ?” 

“ What other poor boys, like me, have done, sir — work 
myself up . 77 

“ Like you ! yes, you have evidently strong will, intclli- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


83 


gence, and enterprise, and lads like you have worked them- 
selves up, as you call it — some to fortune, and some to — 
the gallows, boy ! So be careful.” 

11 1 shall, sir. I have heard of Girard, your great banker, 
who w T as a poor orphan lad like myself, thrown friendless 
upon your shores, and how he worked himself up to fortune, 
and founded banks and city squares, and above all, a col- 
lege for the education of poor boys. If I could get into 
that college now — ” said the lad, with an appealing gaze up 
into the gentleman’s face, which was, however, quite lost in 
the darkness. 

“ Your fortune would be made. I have no influence, how- 
ever, to get you in there, even if you were a candidate, my 
boy, which you could not become, because you see the 
Girard College was founded for the benefit of Philadelphia 
boys only. New York has evening free schools, and 
libraries, and reading rooms for the benefit of poor boys 
who have to work all day and wish to improve themselves 
in the evening. If you are honest and industrious, and 
very much in earnest, you will attain your object, I hope — 
that is, if I clearly comprehend what your object really is.” 

“It is what I have told your honor — only to earn money 
| in order to get knowledge.” 

“ And knowledge is the road to power. You are ambi- 
tious, my lad ! We shall hear of you in the world, some 
day ; but whether as a great financier or a great felon, 
which is often the same thing, depends upon ” 

“ Myself,” interrupted the boy. 

“Your fate,” solemnly continued the man; “but after 
| all, those two, also, may be but one — yourself may be your 
fate ! But it’s going on toward two bells. I advise you 
to follow my example — go below and turn in. Good-night, 
my lad.” 

And without another word, the stranger turned and left 
the deck. 

And the adventurous boy — if he had foolishly raised any 
2 


34 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

air-castle upon the foundation of the stranger’s curiosity, 
rather than interest in him, was destined to see it sink, for 
the gentleman went below, and merely saying to himself, 

“ What a very forward boy for his age ; but I suppose there | 
are hundreds like him, where he came from,” dismissed 
the subject from his mind forever. 

The boy left on deck paced up and down for hours 
longer, unwilling to leave the fresh, brisk, vitalizing air, 
and the pure, clear, blue darkness of the open sea and sky. 

At length, with weary limbs and drowsy brain, though 
still reluctant spirit, he too left the deck, and went below, 
to seek his berth in the crowded cabin of the steerage pas- 
sengers, around which human beings were packed away 
like bales of goods, on tiers of shelves, or lay extended on 
mattresses over the floor. 

The boy paused beside one mattress upon which a little 
girl was sleeping beside a coarse woman and rough man. 
The man and woman were both tall, massive, rugged-look- 
ing Hibernians, long past middle age ; dark, swarthy, and 
forbidding in features, expression, and attitude. The child, 
that might have been their granddaughter, was a pale, 
thin, fair-haired little creature of perhaps three or four years 
of age. Her eyelashes were still wet with the tears with 
which she had wept herself to sleep. 

“ Poor, dear little Daney, how I wish I might have taken 
you up on deck, to get a breath of fresh air too ! I no 
more believe that you belong to this uncouth couple than I 
belonged to my half a dozen mothers of begging memory,” 
said the boy, as he gazed pityingly upon the little sleeper, 
before climbing up to his own shelf, that was placed quite 
near the ceiling of the cabin, and fell asleep to dream of 
Jack the Giant-killer, Whittington, Lord Mayor of Lon- 
don, and other fabulous and historical heroes who had 
begun life by running away to seek their fortunes, as he 
was doing. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


35 


CHAPTER II. 

THE FISH BOY’S STRANGE ADVENTURE. 

Oh it was pitiful, 

Near a whole city full, 

Home he had none ! — Hood. 

Westward ho! The good ship went on her way, and in 
due course of time and* tide anchored in New York harbor. 

The custom-house officers came on board, but their 
dreaded visit was but a small inconvenience to our boy, 
who, having at the word of command untied the blue cotton 
handkerchief that contained all his worldly goods — namely 
a second shirt and a dog-eared Bible — was suffered to land 
in peace. 

He looked around for little Daney and her father and 
mother, but they were hopelessly lost in that bewildering 
crowd that always attends the arrival of one of the ocean 
steamers. It was a dark night, also, which rendered further 
search quite hopeless. 

So he stepped upon the pier, and turned at a venture up 
the first street that offered, for one was as good for him as 
another. This one was lighted with gas, and lined with 
shops, and crowded with people. It was a busy, gay, exhila- 
rating scene, at least to those who were at home in it. To 
our boy it was depressing in the extreme. For in all that 
endless stream of animated faces there was not one that 
smiled upon him, or even knew him. He was a stranger 
in a strange land ! 

Oh ! what would he not have given then, if in that large 
and crowded city some little home had been waiting to wel- 
come him — some kind old aunty or grandmother had been 
making tea or smoothing a bed for him. But, no — no such 
comfort awaited him. 

He had seen so many of his fellow-passengers welcomed 


36 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


with joyous ardor by expectant friends, and hurried away 
to happy homes ; but there were none to look for him, none 
to take him by the hand, none to bid him welcome. 

Oh ! desolation of desolations ; why had he not thought 
of all this before ? Here he was at the gaol of his desires ; 
this was the new world ; this was New York ; but the ex- 
citement that had sustained him during the voyage failed 
him now, through a very natural reaction of the animal 
spirits, and instead of feeling happy, confident, and elated, 
he felt lonely, frightened, and despairing. He wished him- 
self back at the ragged school, or with his hard task-master, 
the fish monger, or with his old companions of the New 
Cut ; and then he remembered that three thousand miles 
of the “ salt sea waves” rolled between him and them, and 

the hero of twelve years old, who had come to carve 

out such a magnificent fortune for himself, sat down under 
a gas-lamp and wept from homesickness and solitude. 

A policeman — that modern providence of the streets — 
came and asked him what was the matter. 

“I have just. landed from an emigrant ship, and I have 
got no friends, and don’t know where to go. I wish I 
was back in Westminster — boo-hoo-woo !” 

“ Have you got any money ?” 

“Yes, sir — a shilling.” 

“ That’s a fortune to commence business with in New 
York ! You see that house at the corner there ?” said the 
policeman, pointing to a tall, old, red, brick building, the 
ground-floor of which seemed to be occupied as a shop. 

“Yes, sir.” 

“ Go there, and you’ll get lodging and supper both for a 
shilling, and — to-morrow’s a new day, you know, and may 
bring you luck.” 

“Yes, sir,” answered the boy, drying his eyes, and feel- 
ing a strong impulse to embrace his new acquaintance and 
swear eternal friendship with him, but the officer had walked 
off toward the other extremity of his beat. The boy picked 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


37 


up his light bundle and crossed the street to the house 
pointed out to him, and when he reached it, found that the 
lower shop was occupied by a fish and oyster vender. And so 
quickly does the mood of childhood change, he laughed aloud 
at the thought that passed through his mind as he entered. 

“ I ran away from a fishmonger in London, and sailed 
three thousand miles to fetch up at last with a fishmongei 
in New York P 

“ What do you want, boy ?” inquired a short, stout, 
black-haired man, in a white apron, who stood behind a 
barrel of oysters, engaged in opening a specimen one for a 
customer." 

“ Can I lodge here V 1 

The man jerked his oyster knife over his right shoulder, 
thereby indicating a flight of steps, ascending from the back 
of the shop to the unknown regions above. The boy fol- 
lowed the index, and found himself in a large upper room, 
furnished with benches around the walls, and half filled 
with those street ministers of the head and feet, the news- 
boys and boot-blacks. They were a free, merry, noisy set — 
some engaged in drinking coffee, which was dispensed from 
behind a large table in the corner by a fat, motherly looking 
woman — and some in reading the papers — and some in 
discussing the politics, literature, or drama of the day. 

Our boy went up to the counter and got a cup of coffee, 
a sausage, and a roll, for which he paid a sixpence, and then 
again put the inquiry whether he could have a lodging. 

The woman, who might have been the twin sister of the 
man below, and who was engaged in cutting bread, twitched 
her knife over her shoulder, indicating a second flight of 
stairs, leading from the back of the room, higher. 

Our boy, following this index also, landed in an upper 
chamber, of a size and appearance corresponding with the 
room below, but having the broad benches that ran around 
the walls covered with mattresses and blankets. In the 
corner of the room there was an iron stove containing a 


38 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


good fire. An old man, the sole occupant of the place, sat 
dozing in an arm-chair near it. Upon paying another six- 
pence to this functionary, our adventurer was told that he 
might take his choice of the luxurious couches spread be- 
fore him, which he accordingly did. 

And though his last penny was spent, and he had but 
this one night between himself and possible starvation from 
cold, hunger, and exposure on the morrow — though he was 
now literally a homeless, friendless, and penniless stranger 
' in a strange land, he felt so comforted* by the transient bless- 
ings of food, warmth, and shelter, that he lay down and slept 
the sound sleep of careless childhood, unmindful of the 
future. He was not even awakened by the coming in of his 
vagrant fellow-lodgers. 

Morning dawned before he opened his eyes and remem- 
bered where he was, or that he had not even a penny to pay 
for the breakfast that his vigorous young appetite already 
craved. His companions of the preceeding night had 
already risen, breakfasted, and departed. He too arose, 
washed his face at the water spout, and dried it with the 
roller towel that served all the inmates of the chamber. 

Then he went to the room below, where he found the fat 
woman still dispensing coffee, muffins, and chops, as if she 
had never gone to bed at all. The smell of all this was very 
appetizing. Our boy was excessively hungry. And what 
boy ever hesitated between a garment and a meal ? A girl 
might do so ; a boy never ! 

Marching up to the counter, he boldly offered the woman 
his bundle in pledge of future payment for his breakfast. 

She was too habituated to treat with customers “ hard 
up for the ready” to express the least surprise at this pro- 
posal. Coolly receiving the offered security, she helped the 
boy to a cup of coffee, a muffin, and a mutton chop. At 
another time she might not have cared to converse with a 
customer. But now she was especially idle, and there was, 
beside, something about this fine, tall, black-eyed and black- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


39 


haired youth that was rather attractive. So while the hun- 
gry lad stood there discussing his breakfast, she entered 
into conversation with him, and in the course of a few min- 
utes, had learned almost as much of his history as is known 
to the reader. 

“ Oh, then if you were ’prenticed to a London fishmonger, 
and understand crying fish or oysters and that, you needn’t 
go any further to look for a place. My brother down stairs 
wants several more boys to take out fish early in the morn- 
ing, and oysters in the evening,” said the woman, when he 
had finished his account of himself. 

The boy looked up at her. It was very provoking to 
have run away from a fishmonger in London, only to fall 
into the hands of another fishmonger in New York. But 
hunger and cold in midwinter are horrible tyrants, who will 
not permit their demands to be put off for a day. And so, 
with a smile at the ludicrousness of the whole affair, and a 
wise reflection to the effect that no man (or boy) can escape 
his fate, our hero yielded to his destiny. 

And that same day found him crying “ Fine, fresh oys- 
ters” through the streets of the city. 

He rather liked his new master and mistress, and he de- 
cidedly took to the old man, their father, who had charge 
of the boys’ sleeping room. And he liked the newsboys who 
congregated there every night, with their intelligence, mer- 
riment, and gossip ; their independence, self-esteem, and 
confident criticisms on art, literature, and politics, and all 
the grand topics of the day. 

And all things considered, our hero might have been 
contented, only — to cry fish and oysters through the streets 
of the city had certainly not been his object in coming to 
the new world. Since leaving the ship, he had never once 
chanced to meet one of his fellow-passengers. They seemed 
all to have been scattered to the four winds of heaven, for 
all that he ever saw or heard of them again. But in his 
secret heart he grieved for little Daney, his baby shipmate 


40 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

and only friend on the passage. And as he walked through 
the streets crying his oysters, he peered at every little child 
that bore the slightest resemblance to her, in the faint hope 
of finding her. He often followed some tall, dark, uncouth- 
looking man or woman in the vain expectation of over- 
taking her father or mother, and discovering what had 
become of her. That which we seek at a distance, is often 
very close, too close to us to be found. 

One day he had been crying oysters all day long, and 
late in the afternoon turned into his own street to go home, 
when, at the low door of a tenement house on the same 
side of the way, he saw little Haney sitting on the step. 

With a quick, breathless, gasping cry of joy, peculiar to 
herself, she sprang up and toddled toward him. Dropping 
his empty bucket, and throwing up his hands, he ran for- 
ward to meet her, caught her up in his arms, and covered 
her with kisses. There was something deeply affecting in 
this poor forlorn boy’s love for that little child. But the 
human heart must cling to something. His clung to the 
baby. He learned from her broken talk that her father and 
mother lived in that house. A little later, he discovered 
that they went out only by night, lurking in the upper 
rooms of the house all day. 

The fish boy was almost happy -now, he had something to 
care for. He spent his leisure time and spare money, that 
should both have been bestowed upon books, according to the 
original programme, all on Daney. He played with her, 
romped with her, walked with her, and fed her with oysters, 
clams, and all the best dainties of his master’s shop. And 
there is no doubt in the world, that if this had continued, 
all his ambitious prospects for the acquisition of knowledge 
must have fallen through. And as Marc Antony lost the 
world for a woman, Welby Dunbar must have lost it for a 
child. It is quite certain that the whole destiny of this 
boy was changed by the sudden disappearance of Daney. 
Poor Welby went to seek her one evening when he had 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


41 


done his work, and was told by the other lodgers in the 
house that Drury and his wife, with little Daney, had gone 
— no one could tell where. 

This was a great blow to the boy. All he loved in the 
world had vanished. For a moment he reeled under the 
shock ; but soon rallied with the hope of finding her again 
speedily. And from that day, there was not a more indus- 
trious oyster-carrier than himself ; and why ? because the 
more streets he traversed, the greater hope of finding 
Daney. 

But days and weeks passed, and still his little blossom 
was missing. 

One day, near evening, he was crying oysters in a street 
near Broadway, when suddenly : 

“ There he is now !” exclaimed a respectable, middle- 
aged, clerical-looking gentleman, who was walking down 
the street with two other elderly, professor-like men. 

“ Oh ! the young rascal, to have no more regard for his 
mother’s feelings,” said the second man. 

“ Thank heaven we have found him at last, however,” 
answered the third. 

“Here's your fine, fresh oysters /” bawled the boy, with- 
out the remotest idea that the conversation of these 
fatherly old gentlemen referred to him. 

“ Stop that nonsense, sir. Are you not ashamed of 
yourself, pray?” said the clergyman, sternly, as he laid his 
hand upon the boy’s shoulder. 

“ I am only crying oysters, sir ! I am doing no harm, 
sir !” answered Welby, in surprise. 

“No harm, Master Greville ! do you call it no harm to 
disgrace your friends in this shameless manner ?” said the 
first professor, severely. 

“ What could have tempted you to such an extraordi- 
nary step ?” demanded the second professor. 

“You have nearly broken the heart of your mother !” 
said the clergyman. 


42 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Your friends have all been in the utmost distress about 
you 1” added the first professor. 

“ Such conduct deserves the severest chastisement,’’ 
said the second professor, or, as we shall hereafter call him 
for distinction sake, the schoolmaster. 

“ But I was only crying oysters I” pleaded the bewildered 
boy. 

“ Only crying oysters, you irreclaimable scamp ! And is 
crying oysters a proper business for a young gentleman of 
your position ? Shame on you, sir !” 

The boy looked from one to the other in the utmost per- 
plexity. They did not look like lunatics, nor like men who 
were playing a joke — those three stern old gentlemen. 
The eldest was a short, stout, bald-headed man in a cleri- 
cal suit of jet black. The other two were tall, thin, grey- 
haired men, with the unmistakable air of pedagogues 
There was no doubt that the eldest was a clergyman, and 
the others professors in some school or college for young 
gentlemen. 

“ Pray, why did you disgrace yourself, your friends, and 
our establishment, by running away from us, Master Gre- 
ville ?” severely demanded the clergyman. 

“ I never ran away from you, and never saw either of you 
before in all my life ; and my name is not Master Greville, 
nor Master Anybody else ! And I think you are all crazy 
together, old gents, begging your pardon 1” exclaimed the 
provoked boy. 

“ Oh, the shameless young reprobate ! he pretends not to 
know us ! Do you think sir, that your ragamuflan disguise 
can hide you from us /” 

“ I tell you what, my jolly governors, you have all been 
drinking,” said the boy, and picking up his bucket, he 
walked on, singing : 

“ Here-ere-'s your fine, fresh oysters /” 

But he was overtaken and stopped in a moment, and this 
time by a policeman, whom the clergyman had called, and 
to whom he said : 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


43 


“ This is Master Fulke Greville, who ran away from my 
establishment last month. Call a carriage ; we wish to take 
him immediately to the home of his stepmother, Mrs. 
Courtney Greville, of Madison Avenue.” 

The policeman started on his errand. 

Our hero struggled valiantly in the hands of his captors. 
The three old gentleman had enough to do to hold him un- 
til the carriage came up. 

Meanwhile a gaping crowd had gathered. 

“ Come, Master Greville, your frolic is quite over ; you 
have had enough of it, one would think ! Get in and come 
home to your mamma,” said the clergyman, who, with his 
two companions, endeavored to force the fish boy into the 
carriage. But the latter stoutly resisted, saying : 

“ I won’t, I tell you ! Leave me be this minute ! This a 
free country I I wish I was back to Old England ” 

“ Master Greville ” 

“ I’m no Master Greville, I keep telling you, nor Master 
Anybody else !” 

“If you have no respect for yourself, think of your 
mother !” 

“ I’ve no mother, I tell you ! Let me go, I say ! I’ll 
take the law of you all — I’ll — ” cried the lad, violently re- 
sisting all endeavors to force him into the carriage. 

Here the gathering crowd closed around the group. 
One voice, that of a newsboy, arose, exclaiming : 

“ Oh, I say, fellows ! Here’s a young gent on a lark, 
been and broke school, and been a play acting at carrying 
out of oysters for old Carnes at Waterside. I seen him 
there ! Hooray for him !” 

“ Hooray for him ! Go it, governor ! go it, oysterman !” 
echoed the crowd of boys, as the old clergyman and the 
lad struggled together — the one to gain his freedom, the 
other to force his captive into the carriage. Other policemen 
gathered to the scene of combat, for such it now really became. 

“ Officers, my name is Dornton ; I am the principal of 


44 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


the Bancroft Collegiate School for young gentlemen. This 
boy is one of my pupils, Master Fulke Greville, the step- 
son of Mrs. Greville, of Madison Square, of whom you 
have all heard. He ran away from school a few weeks ago, 
and has been since that time apparently masquerading as j 
oyster carrier. I claim your assistance to restore him to 
his mother,” said the clergyman, desisting in his efforts to 
control the athletic lad. 

“ Come, young gentleman, you had better go quietly 
with your friends. What can a young gent like you see in 
the oyster line o’ business, to forsake all else and follow 
it ?” said a jocose policeman, taking hold of the boy’s arm, |; 
and urging him toward the carriage door. 

“ Leave me be, I say ! You are all mad together, I 
believe ! I am no Master Greville ! I’ve no mamma ! I 
never saw the Reverend Mr. Dornton in my life before 1 I 
never even heard of the Collegiate School for young gentle- 
men, nor Madison Square either ! Leave me be, or I’ll 
black some of your eyes !” cried the boy, fighting like a hero. 

“ Go it, governor ! Go it, youngster !” cried the amazed 
crowd. 

“I’ll back the governor for half a dollar,” said one. 

“And I the boy, for the same sum,” answered another. 

A ring was quickly formed around the group. 

But in the midst of it all the boy was overmastered and 
forced into the carriage, followed by the three elderly gen- 
tlemen. The policeman opened the crowd, and the order 
was given for the carriage to be driven to number blank, 
Madison Square. 

“ How could you have given us so much trouble, Master 
Greville?” inquired the old clergyman, as soon as the door 
was fastened securely and the wheels were in motion. 

But the boy did not answer. He sunk back in his seat, 
stuck out his upper lip, kicked his heels against the boards, 
and remained in sullen, offended silence. 

“ I ask you, sir, why is it that you have given us so 
much trouble ?” again inquired his mentor. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


45 


“What’s the use of my answering of you any thing? 
What’s the use of my talking to lunatics ? for you are all 
luny together ! And your perlice aint worth a ha’penny 1 
to let a harmless lad be tuk up and hauled off in this way, 
and all for nothink !” sulkily answered the boy. 

“You will see who is mad and who is sane presently, 
sir ; nor can you hope to deceive us by your assumption 
of vulgar slang,” said Mr. Dornton. 

“ Well, if you are not mad, you are worse ! If you’ve 
tuk me up, knowing of what you’re a doing of, so much the 
worse for you ! It is a case of kidnapping, so it is ! And 
you mean to black my face, and crimp my hair, and make a 
negro slave of me, perhaps, because I am a poor, friendless 
lad, with no one to look after me ! But I’m a free-born 
British subject for all that ! and I’ll lay the case before the 
British consul, so I will ! Mind ! I’ve warned you !” 

“ Lord bless my soul, how he keeps it up ! A good 
actor has been lost to the world by this boy being born to 
a fortune ! One would really think he believed what he 
said !” observed the professor. 

“ Oh, yes ! he has genius ! He was noted at school for 
being the best actor in the Thespian corps,” remarked the 
schoolmaster. 

“And the most highly gifted boys are too often, alas! 
the most hopelessly reprobate!” commented the clergy- 
man, with a sigh. 

The subject of this conversation looked from one to the 
other of the speakers in utter bewilderment, thinking to 
himself: “My eye ! if these old gents don’t talk as if they 
meant^it ! Well ! either they be mad, or I be dreaming of 
the queerest dream as ever was !” but instead of speaking 
out these words, he relapsed into sullen silence, until the 
carriage drew up before one of the lofty mansions of Madi- 
son Square. 


46 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER III. 

THE FISH BOY’S PALACE. 

A palace beautiful to see ; 

Marble-porched and cedar chambered, 

Hung with damask drapery ; 

Bossed with ornaments of silver, 

Interlaid with gems and gold, 

Filled with carvings from cathedrals, 

Rescued in the days of old ; 

Eloquent with books and pictures, 

All that luxury could afford; 

Warmed with statues that Pygmalion 
Might have fashioned — and adored. — Maclcay. 

It was a fine, double-fronted, four-storied brown-stone 
building, with rows of plate-glass windows, wrought-iron 
balconies, and all other external signs of wealth, taste, and 
refinement. The gaslight over the transom above the street 
door, revealed a stately entrance. And to the right of this, 
through the half-closed shutters of two lofty windows, the 
glow of light through gold-colored curtains, showed the 
warmth and ’comfort of the drawing-room. 

By the time the boy had made these observations through 
the window of the carriage, the door was opened, and the 
steps let down. 

The old clergyman alighted and stood blocking the way, 
until the professor and the schoolmaster handed out the 
boy, keeping hold of him, lest he should bolt again. The 
carriage was paid and dismissed, and while it rolled away, 
the boy was led between the clergyman and the professor, 
the schoolmaster following, up the marble steps to the 
stately portals. 

“ Oh, see here now 1 I say ! this is getting beyond a joke, 
you know! Let me go, governor!” cried the boy, appa- 
rently frightened by the grandeur around him. 

But at this moment the door was opened by a footman 
in livery, who, seeing the party, exclaimed quite involun- 
tarily : 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 47 

u Master Fulke ! and in that dress ! Oh I I beg your 
pardon, Mr. Dornton, but it was such an astonishment.” 

“ I can quite understand that, Benjamin. Let your 
mistress know that we have brought Master Greville home, 
and are waiting to see her.” 

“ Yes, sir ! sit down, sir.” And the footman offered 
chairs in the spacious entrance hall, while he opened the 
door on the right, and entered a parlor to do his errand. 

“You see, even Benjamin recognized you, sir, in your 
disguise !” said Mr. Dornton. 

“ Yes ! he is another lunatic ! Now I tell you all what ! 
You’ve been and caught the wrong fish ! and you’d better 
throw me back in the water again ! I am not a trout, my 
masters — I am nothing but a dog-fish,” said the boy. 

“ Be silent, sir, and respect, at least, your mother’s 
house !” said the clergyman. 

“And if you do not, it will certainly be the worse for 
you,” continued the professor. 

“ Your only chance of escaping condign punishment is 
putting yourself upon your best behavior,” added the 
schoolmaster. 

“ Very well ! I’ve warned you all ! You are keeping a free- 
born boy here against his will. It is kidnapping ! It is false 
imprisonment ! It is felony I And I’m blowed if I’ll stand it.” 

Before either of his captors could answer this speech, 
the footman reappeared, and reported : 

“ Mrs. Greville begs that you will walk in the parlor, and 
she will be with you in a moment.” 

And he opened the door on the right, and ushered the 
party into an elegant little reception-room, the window- 
curtains, and chair and sofa covers of which, were of gold- 
colored satin damask. The walls were enriched with choice 
pictures ; the marble-topped tables were laden with beauti- 
fullv bound books ; the mantle-shelf was surmounted with 
a broad mirror, and adorned with vases of rare exotics. A 
grand piano stood in one corner of the room, a harp in 


48 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

another, a guitar in a third, and a cabinet of fine shells, 
corals, and minerals in a fourth. A beautiful chandelier, 
formed of lilies of mother-of-pearl and leaves of malachite, 
hung from the centre of the ceiling, illumined the whole 
scene. 

It was but the ordinary sitting-room of a woman of 
moderate fortune and cultivated tastes, yet, to the unac- 
customed eye of the fish boy, it seemed a miracle of luxury 
and elegance — a scene of fairy-land and enchantment. In 
gazing around, he forgot, for a moment, his own personal 
fears and cares ; and while he was wondering what could 
possibly be the contents of such very elegant books, and 
where such lovely flowers could have grown, and how peo- 
ple dared to walk on such a splendid carpet, or sit down 
on such superb sofas, the door opened, and a lady entered. 

A queen she seemed! tall and nobly formed, with a 
stately and graceful mien, a proud head, that sat rather 
back upon her shoulders, giving her a natural air of haugh- 
tiness, fine Grecian features, a marble-like complexion, 
large, full, clear blue eyes, and auburn hair, inclining to 
red, bright as sunshine, that dropped in glittering ringlets 
upon her fair, round, well-turned neck and bosom. A blue 
moire dress fell in ample folds, and flowed in undulating 
grace around this queenly figure. 

She advanced up the room, bowing in turn to her visit- 
ors, until her eye fell upon the awe-stricken visage of the 
poor young ragamuffin, when all her dignified self-posses- 
sion gave way, and, with a smothered cry, she hastened 
toward him, clasped him in her arms, and burst into a pas- 
sion of tears — genuine tears, that welled up from the bot- 
tom of her heart — plentiful tears, that fell in showers over 
the fish boy. This ragged form was embraced by her fair 
arms, his rough head pillowed upon her soft bosom, and 
veiled by her splendid ringlets, and his sunburnt face cov- 
ered with her warm kisses, while, with loving inconsistency, 
she poured upon him epithets of endearment and words 
of reproach. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 49 

“ Oh, Fulke, my dear, dear boy, bow could you be so 
very wicked ? Oh, my darling, what a figure you have 
made of yourself! How could 3^011 break my poor heart 
so ? But if I forgive you this time, you will never go away 
again, will you, dear ? No, I am sure you will not. It was 
only a freak — a lark , as you wild boys call it ! And my 
son did not remember, that what was 1 sport to him, was 
death to his poor mother/ ” etc., etc., etc., she continued 
through at least an hour of sobs, and tears, and caresses. 

“Another lunatic,” thought the fish boy; “but my eye! 
what a nice mad woman this one is, to be sure ; I don’t 
object to her one bit ! only I should like to know what all 
the row is about !” 

At length, when this lady, much to the detriment of her 
elegant toilet, had hugged, and kissed, and cried over the fish 
boy to her heart’s content, she suddenly ceased, stood up, re- 
sumed her queenly dignity, and turning to her visitors, said : 

“ I can never sufficiently thank you, gentlemen, for the 
zeal, discretion, and great delicacy with which you have 
prosecuted this search — a search rendered doubly difficult 
by my refusal to advertise ; but I could not bear to have my 
son’s boyish freak exposed in that way. Again, I thank you. ” 

The gentlemen bowed in return. 

“And now may I ask you where you found the unfortu- 
nate boy ?” she inquired. 

“ Crying oysters, madam, in Canal street,” answered 
Mr. Dornton. 

The lady was betrayed into an involuntary start of horror. 

But without regarding that, the clergyman proceeded to 
detail all the circumstances connected with the arrest of 
the fish boy. 

The lady turned a melancholy glance upon the supposed 
delinquent, but forbore all reproaches. 

And soon after, the three visitors arose to depart. 
They took a respectful leave of Mrs. Greville, and then 
went to shake hands with their late captive. 

3 


50 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


11 Good evening, Master Greville ! We hope to see you 
at school again,- after the Christmas holidays,” said the 
clergyman. 

“ When all that is disagreeable to be remembered shall 
be forgotten,” added the professor. 

“And it will depend upon yourself whether you are 
happy with us or not,” concluded the schoolmaster. 

And with three more deep bows to the lady of the house, 
they withdrew. 

“And now, my darling, that they are gone, and we are 
quite alone, tell me why you left the school where I placed 
you ?” said the lady, affectionately putting her white and 
jewelled hand upon his rough head. 

But the fish boy did not reply. 

“If you have received just cause for dissatisfaction, 
would it not have been better to have remained for a few 
days longer, until my return from Europe, which you know 
was hourly expected ? But.let that pass. And now that 
we have met, tell me, tell your mother, all about it 1” 

“My lady, you are not my mother, no more nor the 
Queen o’ Sheba is !” said the fish boy, sorrowfully. 

“ Oh, Eulke I Fulke ! ungrateful boy ! how can j^ou speak 
to me in that cruel way?” said the lady, with tears in her 
eyes. 

“ How can I help it ? It’s the truth, my lady ! you are 
not my mother ! I wish you was !” 

“ Wish I was ? Well, I am, Fulke ! that is, I am all the 
same. And I am sure I have never let you know the dif- 
ference. Have I now, Fulke ?” 

The fish boy was so touched by her plaintive voice and 
tender look, that he answered evasively, and referring only 
to the present time : 

“ I know you try to be a mother to me, my lady !” 

“ Yes ! do I not, boy ? But leave off calling me my lady, 
you absurd fellow ! Where ever did you pick up such a 
habit ? Yes, Fulke, ever since I married your father, when 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


51 


you were but three years old, I have taken you to my heart 
of hearts, and cherished you, even as my own child. 
Didn’t you and Lois share one nursery, one school-room ? 
Were not you and she like the truest brother and sister, 
although you were the son of Mr. Greville’s first wife, and 
she the daughter of my first husband ? It used*to delight 
us both to see how fond you were of each other in those 
childish days, before it became necessary to send you to 
separate schools. Oh, Fulke, don’t you often think of those 
happy days of infancy?” 

The fish boy did not reply. He was thinking of the days 
of his infancy indeed, an infancy passed first in the arms 
of the tramps and beggars of Westminster, and afterward 
sustained by the crusts and bones thrown to him, as to a 
little stray dog, by his poor neighbors. 

“And in all those days, Fulke, do you remember one 
single instance in which I treated my own child better than 
you ?” 

The fish boy did not remember any thing about the matter, 
and he said so. 

“And after your poor father died, did I not continue to 
treat his orphan son with as much tenderness as I gave to 
my own daughter ? You know I did !” 

The fish boy could not deny it, since he knew nothing 
about it, and the lady continued : 

“And when, a year ago, my failing health rendered it 
necessary for me to relieve myself of all family cares and 
go to Europe, did I not wish to take you and my daughter 
with me ? But your guardian, Mr. Courtney, objected to 
your leaving the United States, and requested that you 
might remain at school ? And then, when I placed you at 
’the Collegiate School, did I not give up the idea of taking 
my own daughter with me, who would have been a great 
comfort to me indeed, and did I not place her at a ladies’ 
boarding-school here, so that she could be near you, and 
see you often ? And, oh, Fulke, what could a mother do 
for a son more than that ?” 


52 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“Notliink,” answered the fish boy, with tears in his eyes 

tears called up by the recollection that he had no mother 

to do any thing for him. 

“ Then, my dear, dear boy, why did you wound me by 
saying I am not your own mamma, only your step-mother V ’ 

“ My lady, you mistake ! I never said as how you were 
my step-mother. ’Cause you’re nyther my mother, nor 
yet my step-mother. I wish to the great goodness alive as 
how you was ! Boo-hoo-oo,” blubbered the fish boy, grinding 
his greasy cuffs into his overflowing eyes. 

These words were so smothered and drowned in sobs and 
tears, that their meaning scarcely reached the lady’s sense. 
She drew his hands away from his tear-stained face, and said : 

“ There, do not cry ; I did not mean to hurt your feel- 
ings. But do not ever leave me again, my dear, dear boy ! 
Oh ! think what an event to meet me on my return to my 
native shores ! I, all eagerness to see you and your sister, 
called at your school before coming to my own house, and 
there, to my astonishment and terror, was met with the 
news that you had eloped I Between that time and this, I 
thought I should have died of fright and anxiety and sus- 
pense ! But there, all is over now, and all forgiven ! Only, 
for my peace, promise you will never leave me again with- 
out my consent, Fulke, at least while you are a minor. 
Promise your mother.” 

“ My lady, I would promise you any think in the world 
to please you ; but one little word more ! It’s no use to 
argue with — lunatics — begging your pardon — so I shall say 
but this : By-and-by, when you find out the truth, don’t go 
for to call me an impostor.” 

“We will drop the subject, if you please, Fulke ; here is 
Lois.” 

At this moment a door opened and — oh ! such a vision 
of loveliness dawned upon the fish boy. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


58 


CHAPTER IV. 

LOIS HOWARD. 

A laughing light — a tender grace 
Sparkle in beauty round her face ; 

And her step is as light as the breezy air 

When it bends the morning flowers so fair. — Carlton. 

The young lady who now entered was a little beauty, of 
about his own age, with a graceful, fragile, fairy-like form, 
dressed in white tarleton, that floated around her like a 
mist, as she moved. She was as fair as her mother, with a 
brilliant bloom on her cheeks and lips, and a merry, danc- 
ing light in her starry, hazel eyes. Her hair was bright 
auburn, with golden gleams, and fell in spiral ringlets all 
around her glowing face. She came in, dancing. 

“ Here is your brother come back to us, Lois,” said the 
lady. 

She danced up to the fish boy, exclaiming : 

“ Oh, Fulke ! I am so glad to see you I” but when quite 
near, and on the point of embracing him, she shrunk back 
with every symptom of disgust, exclaiming : 

“ Faugh ! phew ! Oh, you shocking, naughty boy ! what 
ever have you been doing with yourself? What a figure 
you are ! Where ever have you come from ?” 

“ Is that the way in which to meet your poor brother, 
Miss Howard? Remember the parable of the Prodigal 
Son, and be ashamed of yourself !” said Mrs. Greville, se- 
verely. 

“But la, mamma ! if the prodigal son had come home in 
such a plight as that, I doubt whether his father would have 
fallen on his neck, at least until he had had a bath and a 
change of clothes !” replied the laughing girl. 

“ I was not afraid of his contact, Miss.” 

“No, mamma dear, but just see the consequences ! Your 
beautiful new moire all spotted and greased, and ugh ! I de- 
clare, smelling quite fishy !” 


54 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ You are a spoiled child, Lois, but you mean no harm ! 
Don’t mind her, Fulke ! You know her of old !” 

(“ I’m blowed if I do !” thought the fish boy to himself, 
who, having quite determined to make no more useless de- 
nials, but take his fate as he found it, remained silent.) 

“ Though in the matter of the bath and change of 

clothes, I think her suggestions worthy of immediate at- 
tention, my dear !” continued Mrs. Greville. “ Your trunks 
were sent home when the school broke up for the Christ- 
mas holidays, and they have been placed in your room — • 
not your old room ” 

(“No, I should think not,” thought the boy.) 

“ But in a much larger and pleasanter apartment. 

I think you had better go and attend to your toilet at 
once. Yet stay — I will ring for a servant to show you up 
stairs,” concluded the lady, touching the bell-pull. 

A smart mulatto boy answered the summons, to whom 
the lady said : 

“ Romy, go and attend Master Greville to his apartment, 
and prepare his bath.” 

And as the fish boy, with a sigh, arose to follow his 
guide, she said to him : 

“ Fulke, you will find us here when you return, and sup- 
per will be served at nine.” 

“ Yes, my lady,” submissively replied the boy. 

“ Ridiculous ! Why do you persist in giving me such an 
absurd title ?” 

“ What ought I to call your ladyship, then ?” 

“ Why, you preposterous imp ! call me what you have 
always called me — what Lois calls me — mamma.” 

“Yes, mamma,” answered the fish boy, as he left the 
room. 

“ Now, is it not provoking, Lois ? Here that boy has 
been masquerading as an oyster carrier in the service of 
some low fish and oyster man on Water street, for a month 
past, and really has picked up so much of the air and the 


5o 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

slang of that sort of people, that it seems to me he cannot 
leave them off!” said the lady, as soon as the fish boy was 
out of sight. “ Or else,” she added, “he is purposely play- 
ing a part, for he has been going on in that way ever since 
he was discovered.” 

“ I think, mamma, a good, sound, old-fashioned caning 
would be of immense benefit to him ; it would bring him to 
his senses 1” 

“ Lois, if he were my own son, I should be tempted to 
request Mr. Dornton to administer that caning ; but my 
step-son — never !” 

While this conversation was going on between the mother 
and daughter, the fish boy followed his guide out into the 
brilliantly lighted hall, and up the grand marble staircase, 
and. through a back passage-way into a spacious bath-room. 

“ Glad to see you back, Marse Greville, sir,” said the 
negro, as he busied himself turning on the water and lay- 
ing out towels. 

“Are you dead sure my name is Greville ?” inquired the 
boy. 

“ He, he, he ! La, Marse Greville, how funny you is ! 
What for shouldn’t it be Greville ?” 

“ I’m sure I don’t know. What is your own ?” 

“La now, Marse Greville, what you make game long 
o’ me for ? Sartain my name what it always wur. Who 
gwine for to change it ?” 

“ And what is that ?” 

“ La, young marse, you know !” 

“ Blowed if I do ! What is it ?” 

“ Get along wid you, Marse Fulke, making a fool of a 
poor boy! You know well ’nuff my name, given me by 
my sponsors in baptism, is Romeo Montague.” 

“ Well, Mr. Mt. Ague, as the bath seems ready, you can 
take yourself off.” 

“ Ring when you want me, sah ?” 

“ Oh, in course ! just so ” 


56 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Half an hour later, when the fish boy did ring for his 
newly-appointed servant, Homy entered with clean linen, 
embroidered slippers, and a brocade dressing-gown. 

“ My eyes I” exclaimed the fish boy, as he surveyed these 
splendors. 

“ You’ll please to put these on, sah, and then I’ll show 
you to your new room,” said Romeo. 

The dazzled boy arrayed himself, and followed his guide 
to a superbly furnished and brilliantly lighted front cham- 
ber, where a young gentleman’s elegant evening suit lay 
upon the bed, and a costly dressing-case stood open upon 
the bureau. 

The fish boy, or Welby Dunbar, as we had best call him 
since he cast his shell and emerged such a brilliant butter- 
fly, went up to the bureau, carefully brushed his really fine 
black hair, liberally anointed it from a cut-glass bottle of 
Macassar, and arranged it with some natural good taste. 
Then he arrayed himself in his evening-suit, surveyed his 
person in the glass, and finally received from the hands of 
his attendant a pair of new gloves and a perfumed pocket 
handkerchief. 

“ And now what time is it, Mr. Mt. Ague ?” 

“ Half-past eight, sah. Supper on de table at nine, sah.” 

“ All right ! but will all this change back again when the 
clock strikes twelve?” 

“ Sah 1” 

“Blowed if I don’t feel like a male Cinderella, as if I 
should have to cut it for old Carnes’s oyster shop, at about 
half-past eleven, for fear of being metamorphosed back 
again into a ragamuffin at twelve.” 

“ La, Marse Greville, how funny you do talk, to be 
sure !” 

“Well, Mr. Mt. Ague, I’ll go down and join my lady 
mamma and my young lady sister ! And if this aint the 
rummest go as ever was my name is not Welby !” 

Romeo preceded him down stairs, and opened the little 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 57 

drawing-room door, where he found Mrs. Greville and Miss 
Howard awaiting him. Mrs. Greville had been obliged to 
change her dress, and now appeared in a delicate mauve 
crepe. A tall and elegant looking man of middle age, fair 
complexion, light hair, and light gray eyes, was with them. 
This gentleman immediately arose and held out his, hand 
to the new-comer, saying : 

“ Fulke, my dear boy, I am very glad to see you home 
again. We have been intensely anxious on your account. 
Mr. Dornton was good enough to call in to-night and let 
me know that you were found, and also that all was to be 
forgiven on condition of your never repeating the offence. 
So let us shake hands upon it.” 

“ Go it, old fellow ! Keep the ball moving — nothing like 
it!” thought Welby ; but he said merely: 

“ Thank you, sir !” 

Lois also sprang up and ran and embraced him, saying : 

“I’ll kiss you now, Fulke, to make up for my rude recep- 
tion of you this evening ; but really, you know ! you were 
such a figure !” 

“And now let us go to supper. Give me your arm, 
Fulke! Mr. Courtney, will you lead my daughter?” said 
Mrs. Greville. 

They thus passed into a lofty dining-room, whose walls 
were covered by choice paintings, and whose centre was 
occupied by an elegant supper-table. 

But what attracted and rivetted the gaze of Welby was 
— a full-length portrait of himself, hanging between the two 
front windows ! Yes, there he was ! The same tall, broad- 
shouldered, deep-chested, round-limbed, athletic form ; the 
same well-turned neck and stately head ; the same regular 
features, full, black eyes, straight, black eyebrows, and 
curling black hair ; the same character and expression of 
countenance ; the very same smile ; yes, even the same little 
black mole on the right side of the short upper lip ! Won- 
derful! the likeness was perfect from its general aspect 
down to its smallest details. 


58 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


This was the most mysterious part of the whole affair 1 
But for this he might have supposed himself the subject of 
some practical joke enacted for the benefit of his betters ! 
But here was his portrait ! 

What could it all mean ? Was this a case of mistaken 
identity ? And was that the portrait of his counterpart, 
his fac-simile, his double ? And was he himself honestly 
taken for the runaway young heir of the house ? Well, if 
so, he could not help it, that was certain. He was already 
weary with fruitless denial that he was any such person, 
and vain assertions that he was himself. He could not 
prove his identity ; the ship that had brought him over had 
sailed. again ; the companions of his voyage were dispersed ; 
and no one else knew any thing of him previous to the day 
of his first appearance on Water street, which happened 
also to be the same upon which he was accused of having, 
as Master Fulke Greville, run away from the Collegiate 
School. 

On the one hand he could not prove that he was Welby 
Dunbar. 

On the other hand every one who now saw him was ready 
to swear that he was Master Fulke Greville ! 

What was to be done ? Why, evidently nothing but 
submit to his fate ; take the goods the gods provided ; and 
bend to the burden of “ greatness thrust upon” him. 

But he had no time to speculate farther ; he was called 
to take his place at the table, where a sumptuous supper 
was spread. Like, all poor boys in good health, Welby 
rejoiced in an amazing appetite. He ate straight through 
the bill of fare, doing ample justice to every dish. 

His soi-disant sister’s eyes grew saucer-like in their ex- 
pansion at the heterogeneous viands he devoured fish, 

flesh, and fowl ; pastry, puddings, and jellies ; preserves, 
pickles, and salads ; olives, cheese, and walnuts — nothing 
came amiss. But what will not the stomach of a boy amal- 
gamate and digest ? 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 59 

At length they left the table and returned to the little 
drawing-room, or parlor, as it was often called. 

Lois, at her mamma’s desire, sat down at the piano to 
play. 

Welby, being greatly refreshed and comforted, felt his 
spirits rise wonderfully. lie even followed Mr. Courtney’s 
example, and went and stood beside the musician. 

“ She shall give you your favorite, my dear boy ! Lois, 
sing that song he loves so well,” said Mrs. Greville. 

Dashed if I know what my favorite is, unless it is the 
‘ Perfect Cure/ ” thought Welby. 

But the young lady played a mournful yet inspiring pre- 
lude, and then, amid the low murmuring as of the approach- 
ing tempest, her voice rose slowly with the first lines of 
Longfellow’s glorious “ Excelsior,” as set to music by Helen 
Lindsay. The singer had a fresh, clear, elastic voice, well 
suited to the music. 

The boy listened, his nerves tingled, his heart beat, his 
eyes filled ; he became rapt, inspired, transported ; for 
some moments he experienced those heroic yearnings com- 
mon to all noble souls. And then, by a natural consequence, 
these exalted sentiments were mingled with admiration for 
the beautiful singer who had excited them. Lois finished 
her song, yet continued for a few seconds, abstractedly 
calling forth a few dying notes from the instrument, and 
then ceased entirely. 

“ That will do ; we wish to hear nothing after ‘ Excel- 
sior leave us with the impression that has made,” said 
Mrs. Greville, in a low voice. 

Lois closed the piano; Mr. Courtney arose and took 
leave, and soon after the family separated for the night. 
Mrs. Greville and Lois both kissed their “returned prodigal,” 
as they called Welby, and dismissed him to seek repose. 

He went up stairs to his handsome chamber, locked the 
door on the inside, and being very tired, undressed and got 
into his luxurious bed. But he was far too much excited 


60 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


to sleep. He had left the gas burning, and now lay sur- 
veying by its brilliant light the magnificence that sur- | 
rounded him — the frescoed ceiling, the stuccoed walls, and 
the medallion carpet of his room ; the green and gold satin 
damask window hangings sweeping in heavy folds from 
the ceiling to the floors ; the handsome, full-length mirror \t 
swinging between them ; the rosewood and marble-topped jj 
bureau and dressing-table ; the rosewood wardrobe, with i| 
its mirrored doors ; the couch and the arm-chair covered 
with green and gold satin damask to match the window 
hangings ; and the numerous little accessories of comfort, 
convenience, and luxury scattered through the apartment, 
from the ormolu clock on the mantel-piece to the moss foot- 
cushion on the floor. 

Then his thoughts flew back to the poor, bare room at 
Carnes’s, of which he had only the privilege of his own 
length on one of the wooden benches as a couch. 

What magic had brought about this sudden incredible 
change in his fortunes ? He could not answer this ques- 
tion with any degree of satisfaction. Of one thing only 
he was certain, that he had been no party to this arrange- 
ment ; that he had resisted it as much as possible until he 
found all resistance vain. 

He could not even surmise how long this wondrous 
change might last, or if it might not be as short as it had 
been sudden. But short or long he determined that he 
would industriously “make hay while the sun shone.” He 
would read as many books and acquire as much knowledge 
as he possibly could while in this house of leisure and 
abundance. He would go to school anywhere that his 
self-styled mother pleased to send him, and study hard 
while the opportunity of doing so should be granted him. 
He would save up all the pocket money they might give 
him, as a little fund in case of another change of fortune, 
and if that change should come suddenly, and they should 
find out they had deceived themselves, why, he would re- 




THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 61 

mind them that he had never deceived them, and so appeal 
to their sense of justice and kindness, not only for pardon 
lor the past but aid for the future, to continue his educa- 
tion. 

In the midst of these cogitations he fell asleep, and passed 
in fancy at once to the news-boys’ domicile at Carnes’s. 


CHAPTER Y. 

FARTHER ADVENTURES OF THE FISH BOY. 

Be not afraid of greatness. 

Some are born great ; 

Some achieve greatness ; and, 

Some have greatness thrust upon them ! — Shakespeare. 

It was quite late in the morning when he was aroused 
from a deep sleep by a loud knocking at his door. Still 
fancying himself at Carnbs’s, and that his master was call- 
ing him, he rubbed his heavy lids and answered : 

“ Yes, sir ; directly, sir ; I’ll be down this moment, sir !” 

Then opening wide his eyes, he stared around the superb 
room and its furniture in bewilderment and terror. The 
knocking continued, accompanied now by a voice calling : 

“ Master Greville ! Master Greville ! if you please, sir, 
breakfast is quite ready, and the ladies are waiting!” 
Then the impression that he had died and passed into a 
happier state of existence left him as the recollection of 
the previous night’s events returned. 

He started up and admitted the mulatto boy, who assisted 
him to make a hasty toilet. 

Aftei* which he went below stairs, Romy preceding him 
to open the door of a pleasant breakfast room where he 
found Mrs. Greville and Lois Howard, both in pretty, 
white cashmere morning dresses. Both met him with 
caresses and compliments on his improved appearance. 


62 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Oh, that Lois ! with her gay, sparkling beauty, and her 
fond, sisterly freedoms 1 How dreadful it would be to lose 
her, if he should lose all the rest ! 

This was the thought that sped like a bolt of ice through 
the boy’s heart as he sat down at the breakfast table. 

He tried, for her sake, to speak and act with propriety. 
He narrowly observed the manners of Mrs. Greville and 
Miss Howard, that he might learn from them. Nature had 
done much already for him. She had made him handsome, 
graceful, and intelligent. He was, therefore, quick to appre- 
hend and skilful to imitate the amenities of cultivated 
society. And if sometimes he made a mistake, his “ elected” 
mother would suppose that he did it on purpose, or from 
the effect of habits contracted on Water street. 

After breakfast, Mrs. Greville, who was unwearied in 
attention to her “ returned prodigal,” asked him how he 
would amuse himself. 

And to her great delight the boy answered, if he could 
have his school-books he would like to study, as he had 
lost so much time. 

“ Certainly, my dear Fulke, certainly. And you need 
not immure yourself in your own room. You may have 
the library; no one uses it now. I will order Homy to 
unpack your class books, and take them there at once !” 
said Mrs. Greville, in a high state of approbation. 

And now behold the fish boy in a dressing-gown and 
slippers, seated in an easy chair, with a pile of books before 
him on the table, in the sumptuous library of Greville 
House. 

Here he invariably passed his long mornings in assiduous 
study, and so won upon the good opinion of his “ mother” 
and his “ guardian,” that they decided upon rewarding 
him by giving a juvenile party during the Christmas holi- 
days. When Welby heard of this he privately procured 
Count D’Orsay’s Etiquette for Gentlemen, and read it 
with attention, keeping it in his pocket for constant, secret 
reference. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


63 


When the night of* the party arrived, and the large 
drawing-rooms, beautifully decorated and splendidly illumi- 
nated, were filled with a numerous company of young 
ladies and gentlemen, from the ages of ten to seventeen, 
Welby was much embarrassed to find himself constantly 
accosted by young persons, who claimed acquaintance 
with him, but upon whom, of course, he had never in his 
life before set eyes. 

But luckily, the incessant gabbling of these young mag- 
pies put him in possession of their names, and enough of 
their histories to relieve his perplexity, and place him at 
ease in their society. And thus the affair passed off pleas- 
antly for all concerned. 

A few days after the Christmas party, Welby thought 
he would go down to Water street ; and, for the curiosity 
of the thing, look upon his old home and his old master. 

When he reached the well-known corner house, and 
entered the shop, honest old Carnes, who was still shuck- 
ing oysters behind the counter, as if he had never moved 
from that spot, looked up, and burst into a jolly laugh, 
exclaiming : 

“ Well, Master Greville, I have hearn all about it ! Wa’n’t 
that a pretty lark for a young gentleman, like you, to go on ? 
A running away from school, and a hiring of yourself to me 
to carry out oysters for a dollar a week, and your keep ! 
You crying of oysters, and your fine lady mamma crying 
of her eyes out ! Oh, Master Greville ! what will young 
gentlemen do next, I wonder !” 

“ Carnes , ” Welby felt impelled to say, “I am no more a 
young gentleman than you are. There is some great mis- 
take. I am just what I told you I was when I first came 
here.” 

“ Get along with you, Master Greville 1 running of your 
rigs on an old cove like me ! Sure, I knew from the first 
you were none of the common sort ; though why you came 
down to crying oysters in the streets, I didn’t know. But 


64 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

I was no ways surprised, I tell you, when I hearn as how 
you was all the time a young gentleman out on a lark !” 

“ Well, time will show, I suppose, Carnes. But I wish^fc 
know if you got back your oyster bucket. It was knocked 
out of my hands in the row, when I was kidnapped by the I 
nobs, you know, and I didn’t see what became of it ?” 

“ Me get it back ! who was to fetch it ? No, sir ; and 
that bucket, with the tin dipper, and the four measures, to 
say nothing of the oysters being all lost, warnt less than 
four dollars out of my pocket ! And all along of the larks 
of you, young gentleman.” 

“ Well, Carnes, here is a five dollar piece, and now I 
hope we are quits. It was partly to pay you this that I 
came to-day.” 

“And you for to go for to say as how you’re no gentle- 
man ! Why, you’ve got the very ways of one !” exclaimed 
the well-pleased oysterman, as he tossed the half eagle in 
his hand. 

Leaving kind messages for Miss Carnes, and the old 
father of the family, Welby bade the oysterman good-by, 
and left the shop. 

When he reached home, Mrs. Greville desired his pres- 
ence in her dressing-room. He repaired thither imme- 
diately. 

“My dear Fulke,” said the lady, “ I sent for you to say, 
that to-morrow the Collegiate School re-opens for the next 
term. But if you dislike to return thither, you need not 
go ; we can think the matter over, and select some other 
institution of learning.” 

“Mamma, since you permit me to call you so, I have not 
the slightest objection to the Collegiate School. I will go 
there or anywhere else where you may please to send me 
for education. And I will do my best to improve to the 
utmost the opportunities of learning you are so good as to 
afford me,” said Welby, with earnest and sincere gratitude. 

“ That is my noble boy ! Oh, Fulke ! you will be a bless- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


65 


iug to me yet, as your dear father on his death-bed prophe- 
sied that you would !” said the lady, warmly embracing 
him. 

“ I wish to heaven I might be, madam — dear mamma, I 
mean !” answered Welby, with a sigh. 

The next day, Welby Dunbar, as Master Fulke Greville, 
entered the Collegiate School under the direction of the 
Keverend Simon Dornton. Here, too, he was greeted by a 
host of youth, who loudly welcomed him back, and laugh- 
ingly rallied him upon his late escapade. Not one of these 
had he ever chanced to meet before, though all seemed to 
know him as a very old and intimate friend. As upon the 
occasion of the juvenile party, Welby showed tact enough 
not to betray his own ignorance. By watching and observ- 
ing, he soon learned enough of the names and characters of 
his future companions to make himself at home among them. 
When the classes met, the professors certainly thought that 
Master Fulke Greville had fallen wonderfully behindhand 
in every one of his studies, and that he had certainly the 
most treacherous memory they had ever met with. But 
this was all. For the rest, they encouraged him to study 
hard, in order to make up for lost time. And as Welby 
was resolved to do this very thing, and did do it, his pro- 
gress in learning was wonderful, and won from all his 
masters the most cordial approbation. 

4 





THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER VI. 

A THREATENED DENOUEMENT. 

Dame Fortune is a fickle gipsy, 

And always blind and often tipsy ; 

Sometimes for years and years together 
She’ll bless you with the sunniest weather, 

Bestowing honor, pudding, pence, . 

You can’t Imagine why, or whence ; 

Then in a moment, Presto — Pass ! 

Your joys are withered like the grass. — Praed. 

Every thing prospered with the fish boy. He was certainly 
a waif caught up and borne aloft upon the crest of the 
highest wave of fortune. Among the scores of people that 
he daily met, not one doubted his identity with young Fulke 
Greville ; all were unanimous in forcing his new rank upon 
him. And more than that, if any one interested had seri- 
ously disputed his claims to that name and position, and 
thrown the matter into chancery, there would have been so 
many hundred indisputable witnesses, comprising the 
mother, sister, guardian, teachers, schoolmates, friends, and 
servants, who had all known young Fulke Greville from his 
infancy, and who would have now sworn to his person, that 
any jury must have been constrained to bring in a verdict 
in his favor. 

Or if the fish boy, feeling himself aggrieved by this en- 
forced change of position, had revolted, and through any 
possible “ next friend” made an appeal to the Supreme 
Court, the result must have been similar, and Welby Dun- 
bar would have been condemned and sentenced to the name 
of Fulke Greville, and the inheritance of several hundred 
thousand dollars per annum ! 

The fish boy was very happy. The wildest flights of his 
imagination could never have soared to such heights of 
happiness as he now actually enjoyed. A few weeks ago 
his utmost hopes had been only to obtain some employment 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


67 


at which he was willing to work hard all day, if by so doing 
he could have his evenings to devote to study, and such 
pay as should keep him in the plainest food and clothing, 
and leave him a few pence to spend on second-hand books 
to read. 

And now just to think of it ! He found himself in the 
possession of a luxurious home and ample means ; his every 
want supplied, his every wish anticipated ; indulged by an 
affectionate and doting mother ; petted by a beautiful and 
loving sister ; guided and instructed by loving and accom- 
plished teachers. And more than all, his love of knowledge 
and devotion to books, which in his humbler station would 
have been matters of reproach, requiring to be apologized 
for, were now subjects of the highest merit, receiving the 
greatest commendation. 

He bade fair to be soon at the head of his school. His 
Sundays were all spent at home with Mrs. Greville and 
Lois Howard. 

Mrs. Greville began to idolize him ; telling him, every 
time she saw him, how much he was improved in every 
possible way, in disposition, manners, and appearance ; 
and how happy she was to see him growing so studious, 
amiable, and gentlemanly. And often, in a mistaken peni- 
tence, she would apologize to him for the seeming harshness 
that she felt persuaded had driven him from his school. 

“ That was the onty thing you could possibly have had 
to complain of on my part, my son — the reduction of your 
expenditures, I mean. But you know, my dear Fulke, I 
thought it best for your own sake to keep you on a short 
allowance of funds while I remained abroad, and you here, 
with no mother’s watchful eye to look after you. And that 
was the reason I cut down your usual amount of pocket 
money. Do you not now think yourself that I was right ?” 

Welby, who had long ago given up disputing his posi- 
tion with the lady, replied that he had no doubt that she had 
been right in all that she had done for her step-son’s benefit. 


68 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ But now that your conduct satisfies me so entirely, I 
shall not only double your stipend, but authorize you to 
draw upon me at any time, for any further amount that 
you may desire. This is a confidence, my dear boy, that 
very few parents would repose in a young son. But I 
wish to make you some reparation for my former apparent 
stinginess, and I feel sure that you will not abuse my trust.” 

“ Indeed I will not, my lady — I mean, my dear mamma !” j 
said the fish boy. 

And he kept his word, for he not only forbore to draw j 
upon his generous patroness for any farther amount, but 
he never spent half of his allowance. Yes ! the fish boy was I 
very happy ; not perfectly happy, however, please to ob- j 
serve ! no one is in this world, not even children. 

“There’s alius a somethink,” as the chimney-sweep said 
when he went to see Grisi and left his opera-glass in a cab. j 
And the “ somethink” that marred the perfect bliss of the 
fish boy was the intense consciousness of his false position, |- 
and the haunting fear of detection and exposure. And yet ! 
the reader is aware that he was no willing impostor. He 
did not forget his old friends. He prevailed on Mrs. 
Greville to give the large custom of her household to old 
Carnes. And in his boyishness eagerness he ran down to 
Water street to give the order for daily unlimited supplies 
of fish, clams, and oysters. He found the old fellow still a 
fixture behind his barrels, and told him the good news. 

Carnes was profuse in his expressions of gratitude to his 
young patron. 

“ Now you stop that ! Don’t go to thank me ! I don’t 
deserve it 1 lam only one of those ‘ children of darkness 
who are wiser in their generation than the children of 
light !’ I am only making ‘ friends of the mammon of un- 
righteousness.’ ” 

“La, Master Greville! I hope you don’t call me the 
mammon of unrighteousness. I’m not saying, nyther, that 
there beant unrighteousness enough about me, but as for 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 69 

the mammon, there’s a precious little of that !” said the 

oysterman. 

“I mean,” explained the youth, “that I am prospering 
finely just now ; but my bright prosperity is a mere soap 
bubble, that may burst any moment, when I shall find my- 
self compelled to fall back upon the fish and oyster line of 
business, and then, you know, I should be fortunate to find 
a friend in you. So pray keep a berth open for me. And 
this I ask you to do, in grand seriousness, as the French 
say — in French, mind you, and not in English.” 

“ Bosh ! Master Greville ! If I didn’t know you for a joker 
as 1 ’ould have your joke, even if you was a-dyin’,’ why I 
should think as how you was touched — here” said the old 
man, laughing, and putting his finger to his own forehead. 

“ Perhaps I am touched there, Mr. Carnes ; I often have 
a suspicion that I may be. For, you see, insanity affects 
opposite subjects in opposite ways. Some maniacs, being 
beggars, imagine themselves kings. Perhaps, I, being really 
a gentleman, only imagine myself a fish boy,” he said, not 
laughing, but deeply sighing, as he took leave of the old 
man, and turned his steps homeward. I repeat, he was no 
voluntary impostor ; yet as the months rolled on, and he 
became more and more habituated to the elegance and 
luxury of his home, the caressing affection of the stately 
Mrs. Greville, and the delightful love of the beautiful Lois, 
his fear of a denouement increased rather than diminished ; 
for oh ! he felt that every day brought nearer the discovery 
that must come at last. And he dreaded the fall of the 
blow as the felon dreads execution ; for he felt that he could 
not survive it. The parting from his sumptuous home 
would be bad enough ! the separation from his magnificent 
mother would be much worse ! but the loss of the lovely 
Lois must be his death-blow ! And therefore he dreaded 
the denouement that must sooner or later arrive, as the 
criminal dreads the headsman’s axe ! 

He loved the beautiful Lois with all the pure and pas- 


70 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


sionate affection of his young heart. He knew, too, from 
the gossip of the old servants, as well as from the “chaffing” 
of his college companions, that Fulke Greville and Lois 
Howard, being no blood relations, had been destined from 
their infancy for each other ! And he was called — “ Fulke 
Greville 1” 

“You two will be obliged to marry each other, you know, 
just so soon as you are of age, whether you like it or not ! 
Or Madame Greville will be for serving you out as she did 
Esther ; for, polite as she is, she won’t bear contradiction 
in a matter that she sets her heart upon,” said Clement 
Courtney, the son of his guardian and one of his college 
companions to him one day. 

“Esther ! Who was Esther?” He had never heard the 
name before ! But not for the world would he have ex- 
posed his ignorance. 

One day, however, when he was alone with Mrs. Greville, 
he felt irresistibly prompted to say, despite of all risks : 

“ Mamma, will you tell me all about Esther ?” 

Mrs. Greville’s face became ghastly. 

“ Fulke 1” she gasped, “ how dare you speak a name that 
has not been uttered in this house for years ? You and 
Lois have both forgotten Esther, as it is natural you 
should — and as I wish I myself could. Fulke, she was the 
daughter of my very first marriage. She was ten years 
older than Lois, and much handsomer, with a brilliant 
complexion, and burning black eyes and hair. But, Fulke, 
when she was but fourteen years of age — (and you and 
Lois were but four years of age, for it was in the first year 
of my union with your father) — she was stolen by an Irish 
dragoon, who made her his wife, and took her to his home 
in the south ! Since that I have never received a letter 
from her, nor suffered her name to be mentioned in my 
presence. Let it die now and henceforth. Yet learn from 
her story this one lesson — never to cross me in the dearest 
purpose of my heart. You are aware that you and Lois 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


71 


are, and have been from your earliest infancy, destined for 
each other. It was the wish of my dearest husband, your 
father, and it is therefore my set purpose. You are nearly 
approaching the age now, when young gentlemen, very pre- 
maturely, but very certainly, begin to think of young 
ladies. Fulke, look at me ! F orgot that there is any other 
young lady in the world except Lois 1” 

As she spoke, a broad, blue glare like sheet lightning 
flashed from her eyes, but was gone in an instant I 

But what a terrible look it was ! What a revelation of 
her real character ! Now, caress him tenderly as she might, 
the fish boy would feel that her hands were the paws of a 
leopardess upon him. So he thought, as he hastened, with 
trembling frame, and blushing cheeks, and faltering tongue, 
to assure her that he loved Lois better than his own life ; 
that he would rather have her than possess the whole 
world ; and that if he lost her, he should die. 

“ You shall never lose her ; I will take care of that,” 
said the lady, grimly. And thus the interview closed. 

“ Married three times, and still so handsome ! I wonder 
if she killed and ate her three husbands, one after the 
other, the splendid tigress ! And, oh ! but won’t she tear 
me neither when she finds out who I am 1” said the fish boy, 
with a shudder. And from this day he dreaded the de- 
nouement worse than ever. 

That denouement seemed at length at hand. 

Mrs. Greville was preparing for a voyage and a long resi- 
dence in Europe. Her object was to place her daughter 
Lois at a Parisian school, and “ son Fulke ” at a German 
University, and afterward to give them the advantage of 
extensive travel over the continent. While the fish boy 
was completing his last term at the Collegiate School, and 
Lois her last term at the Ladies’ Academy, and Mrs. Gre- 
ville was settling up her last home affairs, one morning a 
letter was placed in her hand. Seeing the postmark, she 
was about to fling it from her ; but upon looking closer at 


72 


the fortune seeker. 


the handwriting, she seemed surprised, and opened and 
perused its contents. They were as follows : 

Fuljoy’s Island, July ls£. 

Madam: — I break the silence of many years, to inquire 
of you whether you have totally abandoned your step-son, 
young Fulke Greville ? whether you think him quite un- 
worthy of your further notice ; and whether you really 
think it was well done so thoroughly to reprobate so young 
an offender ? For I suppose he gave you just cause of 
anger in leaving the school where you had placed him ; but 
I insist that was no reason for leaving him to his fate. 
Although I have waited in vain to see some advertisement 
for him, I still hope that you may be pleased, rather than 
otherwise, 'to hear that he is not utterly lost. About 
eighteen months ago, in the midst of the severest weather 
of that severe winter, he came on foot, to my house. He 
had walked all the way from New York. He arrived travel- 
stained, weather-beaten, ragged, and emaciated. He told 
me his sad story, which I do not wish to wound you by re- 
peating. I received him as my own son, and placed him at 
the University of Virginia. How he has conducted him- 
self during the eighteen months of his sojourn there, you 
will see by the Annual Report of the University, Tvhich I 
have the honor of sending you with this. Young Fulke 
Greville is now spending the midsummer vacation with 
me. As you are his legal guardian, he is of course at 
your disposal. He desires to know if he may be forgiven, 
and restored to your affections, if not to your favor. I am, 
however, quite willing to provide for him as for my own 
son. I have the honor to be, madam, 

Your obedient servant, 

William Fuljoy, of the Isle. 

The lady read this letter with the utmost astonishment, 
remained in deep thought for some minutes, and then drew 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


73 


her writing-desk before her, and eat down and answered it. 
She despatched her letter, and summoned the fish boy to 
her presence. 


CHAPTER VII. 

WILLIAM FULJOY. 

Of maimers gentle, of affections mild, 

In wit a man, simplicity a child. — Pope. 

We must now shift the scene of this romance in real life 
to a lovely little island that lies smiling within the arms of 
one of those numerous picturesque creeks that make up 
from the mighty Chesapeake into the western shore of 
Maryland. 

The swelling island and the towering banks of the creek 
were still covered with the primeval forest, now clothed 
with the luxuriant verdure of midsummer, and glowing 
under the glorious sun of noonday. 

The deepest solitude and silence seemed to reign here, 
for the stillness was scarcely moved by the soft sound of 
the multitudinous waves as they kissed the shore, the low 
whisper of myriad leaves as they thrilled to the caressing 
breeze, or the sweet twitter of the birds as they loved in 
the shade. 

But a little farther back from the shores, the country 
was open, richly cultivated, and dappled over with pleas- 
ant farm-houses and thriving villages. 

And at the mouth of the creek, on its southern point, 
stood a prosperous little seaport town, doing a profitable 
business in the tobacco trade. 

And thus, within easy reach of this sylvan solitude, the 
scenes of busy agricultural or commercial life prevailed. 

But the beautiful isle, that arose from the bosom of the 


74 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


bright waters, shaded by their forest-crowned banks, merits 
a nearer view. It arose in the form of a gently swelling 
hill, gradually ascending from its thickly wooded circum- 
ference to its sunny centre, where, amid blooming pleasure 
grounds, gardens, and shrubberies, stood the elegant white 


free-stone mansion of the proprietor. 

This happy proprietor was Captain William Fuljoy, a 
fine, hale old gentleman, who having spent the best years 
of a long life in the merchant service, had now retired upon 
an ample fortune, to enjoy well earned repose in his de- 
lightful home, amid his beloved books, his favorite pictures, 
his pet animals, his cherished servants, his beautiful scenery, 
and within easy reach of his only sweetheart, the sea ! 

Captain Fuljoy was at this time seventy years of age, tall 
and stout in form, full and red in face, and white in hair 
and moustache. This was what more than half a century 
of sea-faring had done for him. But notwithstanding this, 
he was really, for his age, a very fiue-looldng and even 
very handsome old man; for his features were faultlessly 
regular, his mouth well curved, his nose straight, and his 
full-orbed blue eyes were as clear, sweet, and honest as 
those of innocent childhood. And wherefore not ? 

“ Keep innocency,” says the Scripture. And if this had 
not been possible, we should not have been enjoined to do 
it. William Fuljoy had done this. Through seventy years 
of varied intercourse with all the nations of the earth, in a 
profession fuller of temptation, sin, and danger than almost 
any other, William Fuljoy, deep in his heart of hearts, had 
kept the spring of innocency undefiled. 

And this was the reason why, at seventy years old, he 
enjoyed in his own person the happy simplicity of youth, 
the proud strength of manhood, and the ripe wisdom of 
age. He was brave, as the history of many a hard sea 
fight would show; tender, as many a comforted sufferer 
could prove ; loving, as all who approached him felt ; con- 
stant, as one gone before him to Heaven knew ; sincere, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


75 


for none ever heard him utter even a polite conventional 
falsehood ; yet delicate, for none ever knew him to wound 
the feelings of another, even by his plainest truth ; he was 
generous, as all the needy within his reach could tell ; and 
self-denying, as his own personal habits would testify. He 
was just in thought, word, and deed. 

He had a well cultivated mind and a well stored memory ; 
he had studied the literature of Germany, France, Spain, 
and Italy, in the original, and spoke the languages of those 
countries with the ease of a native. 

But of course William Fuljoy was not perfect ; he had 
his weak point — at least so his best friends said — and it 
was this — he was romantic ! for not only did he love poetry, 
novels, music, painting, stars, flowers, seas, mountains, and 
all the sublime and beautiful in nature and in art, but — he 
believed in the excellence of human nature ! 

William Fuljoy ought to have been a happy husband and 
father, but he was not. He adored womanhood with a pure 
though passionate worship, but he had never been married. 
This was the reason : in his early youth he was betrothed 
to a lovely maiden, to whom he was devotedly attached. 
Many weary years did the faithful lovers wait for the time 
when William should be able to marry Mary. At length 
that day arrived. After a prosperous voyage he reached 
home to claim his bride. He was shown her grave. She 
had been dead a week. “ Gone out of sight, 1 ” he said ; for 
to him she could not die— to him she still lived. This hap- 
pened when William Fuljoy was thirty years of age. But 
he never sought another woman. Whenever, in after time, 
he was jested with upon the subject of matrimony, he de- 
clared that he was already a married man ; that he had a 
wife living in the better land, to whom he resolved to be 
faithful as long as he should sojourn in this. To his own 
soul he said that she had never left him, that she was ever 
with him, and often nearer to him than ever she could have 
come in the flesh ; that her- spirit entered, pervaded, and 


76 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


governed him. This was all very German, of course ; but 
then the innocent captain, in the lonely night watches at 
sea, had dreamt much over works of Jacob Boehme and 
Emmanuel Swedenborg. 

But though the captain never married, it was impossible 
that such a good and loving nature should not have formed 
close social ties. And so it followed that very soon after 
the captain retired to his beautiful island home, he gathered 
about him quite a family circle. 

And such a family circle ! There was not one of them 
that had the slightest legal claim upon his protection. But 
as the unsheltered seek a refuge, so had the forlorn ones 
sought him. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

FULKE GREVILLE. 

A kind, true heart, a spirit high, 

That cannot fear and will not bow, 

Are written in his manly eye, 

And on his manly brow.— HallecJc. 

His first protfcgfc came to him as follows : 

It was the first winter of his settlement at home, upon a 
tempestuous night in the month of January, that Captain 
Euljoy grew tired of sitting over the fire in his comfortable 
library, and so arose and opened the French window, and 
stepped out upon the porch to look at the weather. The 
storm had ceased, the sky had cleared, and the snow lay 
gleaming white beneath the beams of the full moon. It was 
almost as light as day, and as the captain walked up and 
down the porch, inhaling the fresh air and thanking Heaven 
for the favorable change in the weather, he saw approach 
the figure of a boy. Astonishment at seeing a strange lad 
on the island at that hour of the night held the captain 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 77 

spell-bound, until the visitor stepped upon the porch, and 
lifting a shocking bad hat, said : 

“ Pray, sir, does Captain Fuljoy live here ?” 

“ Yes ! I am Captain Fuljoy ; but ” 

“ You don’t know me, uncle ! I am Fulke Greville, your 
nephew!” said the lad. 

“ Fulke ! Grev — ! Lord bless my soul alive ! Come in 
here and let me have a look at you !” 

And the old man pulled the boy into the room, and stood 
gazing in consternation upon him. 

He was a fine-looking youth of about fifteen years of age, 
with a tall and well proportioned form, regular features, 
dark complexion, and raven black hair and eyes ; but his 
clothing was travel-stained, his shoes worn, and his hat 
battered. 

“ Lord bless my soul and body ! Where did you come 
from? How did you cross the water, and why are you 
here at all?” gasped out the captain, as soon as he could 
recover his breath and command his voice. 

But as soon as the lad opened his lips to answer, the 
captain interrupted him by saying : 

“ Stop ! hush I You are wringing wet, and shaking with 
cold, and hungry, no doubt. You must have dry clothes 
and supper, and get warmed and rested before you answer 
any questions.” 

As soon as the boy was made comfortable, and seated in 
an arm-chair opposite his uncle, he told his story. His 
mother, captain Fuljoy ’s step-sister, had died first; his 
father had married a second time, a wealthy widow, whose 
property was all secured absolutely and exclusively to her- 
self, but he had survived his marriage only a few months, 
and died, as it was supposed, in embarrassment. All this 
the captain already knew, but he had yet to learn what 
followed. 

In impassioned and indeed exaggerated language, the 
high-spirited boy told of his real or imaginary wrongs-— of 


78 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

the cold charity bestowed by his step-mother upon her hus- 
band’s orphan son ; of the cheap boarding-school, with its 
hard fare, to which he had been sent ; of the scant ward- 
robe, the pittance of pocket money grudgingly doled forth, 
and so on ! 

“And what hurt my feelings worse than all, was the 
thought that I really had no claim upon her at all. Because 
after all, you see, sir, she was not my own mother.” 

“ My poor boy 1” sighed the good captain. 

“And so at last I could not bear any more, and I ran 
away from school and came to you, uncle,” continued Fulke. 

“ My poor lad 1” repeated the old man ; “ but how did 
you travel ?” 

“ I walked all the way from New York.” 

“ Walked !”' 

“ Yes, I had no money, and I sold my clothes to pay for 
supper and lodging every night on the road ; I wns a week 
walking it ; the roads were very bad. And now, uncle, if 
you will put me at any work by which I can earn my own 
bread, you will find out that I am not an idle boy.” 

Poor fellow I He had said that he had no claim upon 
his step-mother ; neither, certainly, had he the slightest 
claim upon Captain Fuljoy ; he was only the son of Captain 
Fuljoy’s step-sister. But when did his rich heart ever dis- 
honor a bill drawn upon his benevolence ? 

He did not put the high-spirited lad to work ; he put him 
to college, entering him at the University of Virginia at his 
own expense. 

He had never cause to regret his confidence. 

The reports of the youth’s deportment and progress were 
always most satisfactory. 

He watched the newspapers in the expectation of seeing 
some advertisement on the part of the step-mother or the 
teachers for the lost boy. But none such appeared. Nor 
was any search or inquiry, as far as he knew, made. The 
guardians of Fulke Greville seemed to have abandoned or 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


79 


forgotten him. And Captain Fuljoy, in his disgust and 
indignation at their selfishness and indifference, did not 
volunteer to write and offer them any information. 


CHAPTER IX. 

DANEY. 

Oval cheeks encolored faintly, 

Which a trail of golden hair 

Keeps from fading off to air. — Mrs. Browning. 

The next protege of the captain came to him in the fol- 
lowing manner: 

It was the summer succeeding the unexpected arrival of 
Fulke Greville. That young gentleman was pursuing his 
studies at the university. Captain Fuljoy was living alone 
on his beautiful island. 

It was a glorious morning in June. And the captain 
was out upon his long, vine-shaded porch, embarrassed 
only with the variety of his own sources of enjoyment. It 
was good to watch him. 

His ample,porch ran around three sides of the house, and 
offered an enchanting prospect, first of his own richly cul- 
tivated grounds, filled with blooming and fragrant flowers 

[ and shrubs ; below them the girdle of forest trees that sur- 
rounded the outer edge of the island ; then the blue waters 
of the creek, so clear that they reflected as a mirror the 
forest-crowned hills of the opposite shore ; over all the 
deep-blue sky, dappled over with its soft white clouds. 

Captain Fuljoy would pace up and down this porch, 
taking in all the beauty of this scene, until his limbs were 
weary, and then throw himself into an arm-chair and bury 
his mind deep in the pages of Quentin Durward, where he 
would remain until the sudden outburst of joyous song 


80 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


from some bright bird over his head, would rouse him out 
of the regions of imagination and the past, and recall him 
to nature and the present. Then he would arise and pace 
the porch, inhaling from the heavens and earth deep 
draughts of beauty and delight. 

“ I am blessed beyond my merits ; I am too happy ; and 
I should fear the approach of some counterbalancing evil, 
if I did not trust in the free goodness of the Lord,” thought 
the humble and grateful old man, as he reverently raised 
his hat and replaced it upon his head. 

Again he threw himself into his chair, and soon became 
absorbed in the fortunes of the young Scotch adventurer, 
when again he was disturbed by a bird alighting upon the 
brim of his straw hat. 

He raised his eyes from his book, and there, on a foot- 
stool before him, sat a little girl, quite still, and gazing at 
him with large, calm, blue eyes. For, you see, neither 
birds nor babies feared the big captain, though the enemies 
of his country might have had just cause to do so. 

For a moment he gazed in speechless amazement upon 
the vision, doubting the evidence of his own senses. What 
was it ? Where had it come from ? Had it dropped from 
the sky ? Had the little bird brought it ? The bird almost 
might, it was so small a child. At length he spoke- : 

“Who are you, baby?” 

“ Haney,” answered the mite, without winking. 

“ Hanse ?” said the captain, reverting to his mythological 
studies. 

“No, Haney,” replied the apparition, measuring the 
questioner from head to foot with her blue, fearless eyes. 

“ I never heard of such a name in all the days of my 
life ! Who dropped you here, Haney ?” 

“None body. I tomed my own self.” 

“ You come your own self! Why, what in the world did 
you come for ?” 

“Betause I wanted to.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


81 


“ Because you wanted to. That’s very plain English ! 
But why did you want to come here, baby ?” 

“ ’Tause it is so nice here !” replied the atom, looking in 
the face of the questioner with an expression of surprise, at 
what she seeemed to consider so very vain a question. 

“ Why, so it is nice here ! and so far you show your 
taste, baby. But where did you come from ?” 

“ F’om de water.” 

The captain looked puzzled. The sprite before him 
seemed, indeed, as if it might have been a mermaid’s baby, 
or a water-nymph, or a spirit. Half doubting whether his 
hands would not pass through it as through a shape of air, 
he took the child upon his knee, and looked at her atten- 
tively. She was a little creature, seemingly of about three 
years of age ,very thin and pale, with light yellow hair, 
eyebrows, and eyelashes. She wore a faded nankeen slip. 
And so her face, hair, and dress were all of one hue — 
pale yellow; and, in truth, a more washed-out, faded- 
looking little object was never seen before. And yet her 
features were delicate and regular ; her wrists and ankles 
slender and well turned ; and her bare feet and hands 
small and perfect in form. 

“How old are you, little one? — two, three, four year 
old ?” 

“Oh, a dreat deal older dan dat ! hund’ed and hund’ed 
year old 1” 

The captain quickly put the thing off his knees, stood it 
before him, and stared at it in consternation, exclaiming : 

“What!” 

“ Me so old, me don’t know how old ! Me don’t know 
when me first was !”• 

The honest old bachelor was too unfamiliar with children 
to know any thing about their oftentimes queer notions of 
themselves, and so he gazed upon this antediluvian infant 
in unmitigated amazement. 

“ Who is your mother, baby ?” he asked. 

5 


82 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Dudy.” 

“ That’s another unheard of name ! Who is your fa- 
ther ?” 

“ Doe ! — tate me up in your lap adain,” said the child, 
holding out her arms. 

It was not in William Fuljoy’s loving nature to resist 
this appeal. He raised the child to his knee. She turned, 
put her little thin white arm up over his shoulder, nestled 
her little pale face against his bosom, and with a sigh of 
deep satisfaction resigned herself to repose, murmuring 
softly : 

“ Me do to leep now.” 

And she did go to sleep. And the captain remained as 
one spell-bound. For fear of disturbing her rest, he sat 
so still that the little bird came back and perched itself 
again on the rim of his hat. And a figure the captain 
looked, sitting there with the child in his arms and the bird j 
on his hat ! How long the patient captain might have sat j 
there, if he had been left alone, no one knows — probably 
until he fell asleep himself, if he had not been startled by 
the sound of swiftly approaching footsteps, followed by 
the appearance of a tall, dark, wild-looking woman, who, 
with bare head and streaming hair, strode into the porch, 
screaming out : 

“Arrah, thin, and ye -are there, sure enough, are ye ? | 
And me wid my two eyes out on sticks looking for ye ! 1 
Wait till I get ye, that’s all 1” 

The noise awakened the child, who stared around her 
with a frightened glance, and then, recognizing the woman, 
slid down from the knee of her new friend, saying, with a 
sort of sad, baby humility and patience : 

“ Me mus’ do home now.” 

“ Is this your child, my good woman ?” inquired the cap- j 
tain. 

“And sure whose else should she be, and bad luck to her! 

I beg your honor’s pardon, but me heart’s broke entirely 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


83 


wid thrying to kape her in. Sure, if I was to put my eyes 
out on two sticks, I couldn’t kape the sight of her. But 
she’ll no be throubling your honor sune again after the bat- 
ing I’ll give her!” exclaimed the tall virago, giving the 
little one a premonitory shake. 

“No, she has not troubled me a bit — not the least bit — 
poor little thing ! And pray do not hurt her. Did you 
say she was your child — your own child ?” 

“ Sure and aint I just after telling your honor that 
same ?” 

The captain looked from the woman to the child, com- 
paring them together. The woman was unusually tall, 
muscular, and strong, with high, well-cut features, a dark, 
swarthy complexion, deeply-set, burning black eyes, well- 
marked, black eyebrows, and long black hair plentifully 
mixed with grey. She must have been handsome in her 
prime ; but that was long past ; she was sixty, if a day, 
and probably older than that ! 

The child was small, delicate, and fragile, with minute 
features, fair, pale complexion, large, full, blue eyes, and 
light yellow hair, and no more than four years of age — 
possibly not so much. 

The woman was fierce, violent, and dangerous-looking — 
the child gentle, patient, and loving. There was not a 
point of resemblance between them. 

And simple, credulous, and confiding as the old bachelor 
was, he was not quite prepared to receive as Gospel-truth 
the statement that this baby of four could be the child of 
that woman of sixty. 

“ Who are you, then, and how came you and the child 
upon this isle ?” demanded the captain, not shortly or an- 
grily, but kindly and curiously. 

“Why, doesn’t your honor -know Joe Drury, as you 
brought here to look after your honor’s fishing-boats and 
tackle ?” said the woman. 

“ Oh ! And you are ” 


84 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ His wife, your honor.” 

“ And this is your child ?” 

“ Aint I after telling your honor so ?” 

“ And his?” 

“ Sartain sure, sir ; you wouldn’t be insinuating any thing 
else, and meself an honest woman ?” 

“ No, no, certainly not ; but I thought — indeed I don’t 
know what I did think,” said the captain, ingenuously. 

“ Come, Daney,” said the woman, taking the hand of the 
child to lead her off. 

“ Stay — now don’t beat her, pray don’t. Here is some- 
thing to buy you a new dress and purchase her pardon ; 
but you must promise me not to hurt her.” 

“ I’ll let her off this time for your honor’s sake ; but sure 
if she’s after running away again — Oh, thank your honor ! 
and may your road to heaven be paved with gold !” ex- 
claimed the woman, stopping to pick up the half-eagle 
thrown her as a peace-offering from the captain. And she 
departed, leading “Janey” away, the captain’s yearning 
pity going after the baby. 

The captain dined at his usual early hour. And after 
dinner he took his accustomed nap on the settee in the 
porch. And then he woke up and thought of Daney. 
And as the child had called upon him in the morning, he 
thought he would return her call in the afternoon, and see 
what sort of a home Daney’s rude parents had made for 
her. 

‘ 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


85 


CHAPTER X. 
daney’s home. 

A lonesome lodge, 

That stands so low In lonely glen, 

With little window dim and dark.— Percy's Reliques. 

He put his straw hat upon his head, entered the house, 
passed through the central hall that ran from front to hack, 
went out at the back door and through the kitchen garden, 
and the vineyard and the orchard, toward the north end of 
the island, wdiere his fisherman’s cottage stood. It had 
been a neat, picturesque little log-cabin some months be- 
fore, when, more from charity than any other motive, he 
had settled a poor Irish emigrant there, to look after his 
fishing-boats. But a very disagreeable surprise awaited 
him now — as he passed through the thicket of trees that, 
as I said before, girdled the whole island around, his 
senses were no longer regaled with the delightful fragrance 
of flowering shrubs and trees — on the contrary, they were 
assailed by the nauseous effluvia of stale fish, oyster-shells, 
and other decaying and pestilential animal and vegetable 
matter. 

This scarcely, however, prepared him for the revolting 
sight that burst upon his view when he had passed the 
thicket. There, between the thicket and the water, stood 
the naked log-cabin, with all the ground laid waste around 
it. Heaps of ashes, cinders, oyster-shells, and fish-bones 
lay scattered where once the wild flowers grew, and old 
hats, shawls, and trowsers stuffed the broken windows, once 
whole and shaded by the eglantine and the honeysuckle. 
There are some w r hose demon moves them to deface and 
destroy, as there are others whose spirit leads them to 
build up and beautify. The captain gazed upon this 
squalor with real pain. 


86 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

His beloved island was a paradise of cleanliness as well 
as of beauty and salubrity. 

But this squalid shanty, with its filthy surroundings, 
seemed like a foul ulcer upon its fair bosom. 

The captain groaned in the spirit. He had no alterna- 
tive but to bear this nuisance, or to turn out the family — 
the first would wound his ideality, the last would pain his 
benevolence. In either case he must suffer something ! Ah ! 
how many of the refined and sensitive there are impaled 
upon the horns of the same dilemma. He instantly de- 
cided, as in such cases all noble minds decide. He would 
bear the nuisance as long as possible, rather than inflict 
suffering upon others. 

Standing near the cabin was Joe, the fisherman. He was 
a tall, athletic, swarthy, black haired Milesian, who, from 
the resemblance he bore her, might have been taken for his 
wife’s brother, rather than her husband. But saddest 
sight of all, there on the dirty door-sill sat little Daney, 
who seemed penetrated by all the ugliness around her, for 
her little face was quivering with distaste. 

She was the first to see Captain Fuljoy, and she started 
up and came to meet him, saying : 

“ Don’t tome ; it aint nice here.” 

“No, my poor baby, it isn’t,” said the captain, and then 
turning to the fisherman, who had lounged up and plucked 
off his hat in token of respect, inquired : “ How is this, 

Drury ? What have you been doing to the cottage ?” 

But before the man could answer, his wife put her head 
out of the door, and replied : 

“ If it’s the briar bushes at the windys your honor is 
maning, sure they only served to kape out the daylight, 
and to breed insects, and they are better away entirely.” 

“ But the flowers and the grass I” 

“ Och ! sure your honor’s glory would niver look to see 
the mither of a family wasting her time wid the flowers ! 
And sure Joe, the craychur, has enough to do wid attinding 
to the boats.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


87 


“ But the heaps, of unwholesome dirt around ! Surely — ” 

“ Och hone ! Your honor’s come here only to find fault 
entirely, when me heart is smashed to smithereens already 
through thrying to kape things dacent,” said Judy, throw- 
ing her apron over her head, and preparing to howl. 

“ Well, well, there ! don’t cry ! I’ll send some of my 
people here to-morrow and have the place cleaned, and then 
perhaps you will be able to keep it in better order,” said 
the good-natured old man. And then he stooped and pat- 
ted the child on the head, and turned and hurried from a 
spot where his every sense was pained. 

“ I am sorry for that poor baby there ! She is like a 
pearl on an ash-heap ! I don’t wonder she tries to get 
away. Gan she be their child ? She seems to be made of 
different clay — porcelain clay ; while they are of potter’s 
earth,” soliloquized the old man, dubiously shaking his 
head, as he sauntered on toward his own delightful home. 

He kept- his word, and in the morning sent a man and 
woman to the cabin to put the premises in good order 
again. But what was the use ? In a fortnight it was as 
bad as ever. But every day the little child strayed to the 
mansion. She came so softly that the captain would be un- 
aware of her presence until he happened to look up from his 
book, and see her sitting still upon the steps of the porch, 
or upon the footstool near his chair. And then the content 
upon the little pale face was good to see. She never spoke 
except when spoken to ; but seemed satisfied only to sit 
upon that pleasant porch and enjoy the beauty, music, and 
fragrance around her. Sitting on the steps of the porch, 
she would sometimes lean caressingly toward one of the 
rose trees that grew each side the entrance, and put up her 
little arm and draw the blooming boughs lovingly toward 
her face ; but she never plucked a flower. The little birds 
were not afraid of her, but would light upon her head as 
readily as upon a twig. Ill-health, ill-treatment, or depress- 
ing surroundings, had subdued in her the joyous, restless, 


88 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


mischievous spirit of childhood, hut left, the loving heart 
still sweet, gentle, and confiding. 

“ Why do you like to come here, Daney ?” the captain 
would sometimes ask her. 

“ Tause it is so nice here,” was her invariable answer. 

Elach day, when she had finished her visit, she would 
disappear as silently as she had come. 

Judy no longer took the trouble to come after her, or 
in any way to interfere with her visits to the porch. Since 
the child’s presence at tbe mansion gave no offence to the 
captain, her absence from the cabin gave no uneasiness to 
Judy. 


CHAPTER XI. 
daney’s new residence. 

It is a home to live for, as it stands, 

Through its vine-foliage, sending forth a sound 

Of mirthful childhood, o’er the green repose 

And laughing sunshine of the pastures round. — Mrs. Hemans. 

So passed all the summer and autumn. Winter came 
with its deep snows. The island looked like an enormous 
bride-cake, frosted and decorated with evergreens. The 
captain was confined to the house, and saw no more of his 
baby visiter. The captain sat and read his romances in his 
pretty library, whose French windows opened upon the 
front porch. On the morning of Christmas Eve, he was 
sitting in his arm-chair, deep in the adventures of Oliver 
Twist, when, laying down his book for a moment, that he 
might stir the fire, his eyes fell upon 
“ Daney” — 

sitting demurely upon a stool in the chimney corner, and 
letting her large blue eyes rove in admiration all over the 
room, from the brilliant flowers of the Brussels carpet, and 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


89 


the crimson velvet arm-chairs and ottomans, to the gilded 
blinds and crimson curtains of the windows, the richly 
framed pictures that decorated the walls, and the glass 
cases through which gleamed row above row of richly 
bound books — (for, you see, the captain dearly loved 
finery, even in the dress of his favorite volumes.) 

“Why, Haney 1 however did you get here?” asked the 
captain, in pleased surprise, for he had missed the gentle 
presence of his little visitor more than he was quite con- 
scious of until her reappearance enlightened him. “ How 
did you get in, Daney ?” 

“ T’rough de glass door. Oh ! it is so nice here 1” 

“ Yes,” said the flattered captain, looking around with 
renewed appreciation of his comforts, and feeling himself 
warm and brighten in all that glow of crimson and gleam 
of gold. Then he turned his eyes upon the child, and 
thought how cheerless, comfortless, and hopeless must be 
her life in that squalid shanty, especially now that she 
could not seek relief among the trees and birds and 
flowers. And as he looked, he was shocked to see how 
cold and blue and pinched the child looked. Her head 
and feet were bare as in summer, and she wore the same 
yellow cotton frock that she had on when she first came to 
the porch in the preceding June. 

A pang of remorse shot through the captain’s heart. 
What had he been thinking of— sighing over Oliver Twist’s 
troubles, and leaving this little child to suffer. 

The child saw the disturbance on the old man’s working 
face, and mistook the cause. Rising meekly from her stool, 
she said: 

“ Me trouble you ; me will go home now.” 

But with a burst of compunctious tenderness, the cap- 
tain stretched forth his arms and caught her, saying : 

“No, Haney; no, little one— you don’t trouble me; you 
never did. And you need not go away, Haney. You may 
stay here, and be my little girl forever.” 


90 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Me ! ’tay here!” cried the child, in incredulous wonder. 

“ Yes, Daney, forever ! Should you not like it ?” 

“ Oh ! so much !” cried the amazed and delighted child, 
while a smile of such rapture lighted her pale face as it was 
worth half his wealth to have lighted up. He raised her 
to his knees, gathered her to his bosom, and cherished 
and thawed her naked, half-frozen feet in his large, warm 
hands. 

“ Daney,” he said, as though he felt that he was address- 
ing one who could understand him, and with whom he was 
about to enter into deeply responsible relations — “ Daney, 
this is the Eve of Christmas. More than eighteen hun- 
dred years ago a child was born to us, w T ho, by his life of 
suffering and his death of agony, was to redeem the world. 
While he was yet on earth, he said, of a child, ‘ Who so 
receiveth one such little child in my name, receiveth me.’ 
And on this the eve of his natal day, and in his name, I 
receive thee, Daney ! And as I deal by thee, may Christ 
the Saviour deal by me 1” 

“And you will always teep me here; and never send me 
away adain ?” inquired the child, with beaming eyes. 

“I will always keep you, Daney, unless you yourself, 
when you. grow to be a young woman, should choose to 
leave me.” 

“ But Daney never will go.” 

“ Do you like this place so well, then ?” said the captain, 
feeling so happy in the happiness he was conferring, as to 
wish to dwell upon the subject. 

“ Oh, so much ! It is lite Heaven ! aint it ?” 

“ It must, indeed, seem so to you by contrast, my poor 

child! Oh, dear Lord! to think that I — even I should 

have it in my human power to place even the least of the 
little ones in an .earthly heaven t” said the captain, with 
emotion. 

Then he arose and rung the bell, and said to the servant 
that answered it : 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


91 


“ Send Miss Hit to me ; and do you go down to the 
fisherman’s cabin, and tell Drury and his wife that I want 
to see them immediately.” 

The servant withdrew, and in a few minutes there entered 
the largest woman that ever was seen. The captain was no 
baby, but a very big old man, and Miss Mehitab 1 e Powers 
was a great deal bigger than the captain. She was a very 
tall, stout, fat woman, with a large head covered with flaxen 
curls, and a broad, full, fair face. She panted for breath as 
she walked and talked. She liked light colors, even in winter, 
and upon this occasion she wore a light drab merino dress, 
that made her seem even larger than she was. Miss Hit was 
intelligent, conscientious, benevolent, and, notwithstanding 
that she was the most forlorn of all forlornities — a poor, 
helpless, and friendless gentlewoman, she was very cheer- 
ful. She had been a governess in her youth and middle 
age, but never having been able to save money at that 
thankless occupation, she had found herself, when past 
labor, penniless, homeless, and, alas ! by consequence, 
friendless. She had lived by making long visits to each 
of her acquaintances in succession, and wearing out all 
For oh ! you see, Miss Hit was so big, and panted so hard, 
and had such an enormous appetite, and required so much 
air, that she might have counted for three visitors instead 
of one. Her name became “ a household word” of no very 
pleasing import in the neighborhood. Every one dreaded 
a three months’ visitation from Miss Hit, and every one 
got it with whom she had the slightest acquaintance. For 
what could she do, poor thing? But nothing could exceed 
the cheerfulness, good humor, and fortitude with which 
she endured rebuffs, affronts, and coldness that would have 
broken any other heart. But “ God fits the back to the 
burden,” and Miss Hit’s was of the broadest. 

The captain had heard a deal of complaint made of 
Miss Hit, and a great deal of dread expressed of her 
visitations. And from the bottom of his kind heart he 


92 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


pitied her. Now, he had no more need of a housekeeper j 
than a coach has of a fifth wheel. And Miss Hit was no 
more capable of keeping his house than she was of doing 
any thing else useful. And he knew it. And yet out of 
the compassion of his benevolent heart he offered her five 
hundred dollars a year to come and keep house for him ! 
Miss Hit did not exactly jump at the offer for two rea- 
sons — first, she was a great deal too big, fat, and unwieldy 
to jump at any thing, and, secondly, she felt her own utter 
incapacity, and frankly confessed it. But the captain, who 
wished to do her good, and not to make her useful, would 
take no refusal. 

“ Oh, captain !” she said, at length, “ you are very good, 
but — consider people’s tongues.” 

“Oh, nonsense about people’s tongues, Miss Hit! Fear 
God and keep the ten commandments, and you may set 
people’s tongues at defiance !” said the honest old sailor. 

And so Miss Hit moved to the island, and as the end of 
children’s stories say, “lived happy ever afterward.” She 
poured out the captain’s coffee and tea, and that was the 
extent of her housekeeping; for she would have no more 
ventured to interfere with the domestic government of old 
Aunt Molly, the cook, than she would have run her flaxen 
head into the kitchen fire. Miss Hit had been with the 
captain more than a year when she was summoned to his 
presence this Christmas Eve. And now she stood, panting 
and blowing, and gazing with astonishment at the captain’s 
occupation, while she awaited his commands. 

“ Miss Hit, this is my child, and I wish you to be a 
mother to her,” he said. 

“Well, Captain Fuljoy! I’m sure, sir! And at your 
age! And to me! What next, I wonder!” rather inco- 
herently exclaimed the deeply scandalized lady. 

“ Bosh ! I meant to say that I, who am childless, have 
adopted this little child, and that I wish you to be very 
good to her ! And, first of all, I want you to put a warm, 
nice, new suit of clothes on her immediately.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


93 


“ Good gracious me, captain ! Where do you think I 
could find a suit of clothes for her to-day ! There never 
has been a child in this house, or a child’s dress ! So where 
am I to get it ?” 

“Why, sew one up for her at once ! She is but a little 
thing, and the seam wouldn’t be half as long as my arm, 
and that wouldn’t take you five minutes to sew ! I know 
something about needlework, if I am an old bachelor,” said 
the captain, confidently. 

This took the last whiff of Miss Hit’s short breath away, 
leaving her quite incapable of remonstrance or reply. And 
before she recovered her wind or wits, the captain put the 
child in her arms, saying : 

“ There, take her away ! I see Judy coming, and I wish 
to see her alone. And hear ! Miss Hit 1 to-morrow is 
Christmas Hay, you know ! So have the child a pretty, 
nice, new suit ; and let it be something bright, and soft, 
and warm, and — you know what I mean !” 

“ May I die if I do !” groaned Miss Hit, as she lugged 
her burden off. 

“ Me tan walk ! and me don’t want any new clothes ; and 
me will give no trouble ; and me will be very good if you 
will let me ’tay. It is so nice here,” pleaded the child. 

Miss Hit, who was really very kind-hearted, laid the 
child’s cheek against her own by way of reply, and then 
asked : 

“Are you the little Irish girl from the shanty ?” 

“ Yes, ma’am.” 

“ I thought so, but I did not know you at first,” said 
Miss Hit, bearing her out of hearing. 

Meantime Judy entered the library. 

“ I sent for you about Haney,” said the captain. 

“ Sure and I knew it ! I said she’d tire your honor out 
at long last ! I’m heart-scalded along of the throuble of 
that child ! Sure and I wish I had never seen the face of 
her I” said the woman. 


94 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


The captain looked at her in surprise and disgust, as 
well as with renewed suspicion. 

“No mother ever wishes that of her own child,” he said. 

“Indade and she is my own child, though,” said the 
woman, obstinately. 

“ Yery well, you know best. But now I have a proposal 
to make to you. The child is here.” 

“ Bedad ! and I know that same.” 

“ I wish to adopt her. I will bind myself to support, 
educate, and provide for her. If you are her mother, you 
will be glad of anjr improvement in her circumstances. If 
you are not her mother, you will be still gladder to get rid 
of a child that you consider so very troublesome.” 

The woman dropped her head upon her breast for a 
moment, and seemed to turn the matter over in her mind. 
Then raising her keen, black eyes to the captain’s face, she 
said : 

“ Sure if your honor has taken a liking to the child, and 
will do a good part by her, you can have her. But sure 
your honor would never want to ask to take a poor 
woman’s child without making her some satisfaction for 
it.” 

“ Satisfaction ?” repeated the captain, dubiously. 

“ Yes, your honor. Indade and I wouldn’t be evening a 
human baby to a brute baste ; but still your honor wouldn’t 
even want to take a pet dog off the likes of me without 
paying for it, let alone a child 1” 

The captain gazed at her in horror, turned pale and red, 
left his chair, and trotted up and down the room, groaned, 
and blowed, and wiped his face, and then, with an effort at 
self-control, he returned and sat down, and said : 

“ Bid I understand you aright ? Bid you mean to say 
that you would sell the child ?” 

“ Yes, your honor,” was the undaunted reply. 

“ Woman I you are no more the mother of that child than 
I am ! nor half as much 1 To wish to sell her ! I will not 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


£5 


buy her ! I will adopt her ! I will not give you one cent for 
her! But I will give you and your husband five hundred 
dollars if you will go off the island, and never let me see 
your faces again !” 

The woman smiled — a very unpleasant smile — and looked 
down for a moment, and then replied : 

“I will speak to Drury. ” 

She went away and spoke to Drury. And the result 
w r as, that they took the captain’s money ; and the same day 
removed themselves down to Comport, the little town at 
the mouth of the creek of which I have already spoken, and 
the same week they left that place also for “parts un- 
known.” 

The captain did not see “ his child” the remainder of that 
day. Miss Hit had Daney up-stairs in her own room, 
where she held a solemn consultation with Mandy and 
Sephy the chambermaids, on the feasibility of providing the 
little one with a decent suit of clothes from the resources 
of the house. Miss Hit was at her wit’s end until she hap- 
pened to think of a piece of fine red flannel, that she had 
purchased for an underskirt for herself, but which she now 
determined to sacrifice to Daney’s necessities. Miss Hit, 
Mandy, and Sephy each put a thimble on and went to 
work, and the result was that on Christmas morning Daney 
was presented to her guardian in a dress “ soft, bright, and 
warm” enough to suit the captain’s taste. And this was 
the history of “ Daney’s” adoption, upon which, I fear, I 
have dwelt too long. 


96 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER XII. 

A MYSTERY. 

Long years shall see him roaming, 

A sad and weary way, 

Like a traveller tired at gloaming 
Of a sultry summer day. — Percivcd. 

Day by day Daney improved in health and spirits. Her 
place was always in the library with the captain, who loved 
to see the quiet, happy little creature about the room. 

And oh ! but Daney loved the captain I The lonely old 
man, who had never known love since the death of his 
Mary, knew it now. And this love that Daney bore him, 
taught her a thousand little ways of service and attention 
that greatly pleased the captain — if they did not substan- 
tially benefit him. She was often in the library before he 
came down in the morning. And often when she saw him 
coming she would put her baby strength forth, and try to 
roll his big arm-chair to the fire. She would sit quietly at 
his feet all day long, watching him read, or write, perfectly 
contented only to be near him. She knew by his looks 
when he was going to ring for wood or water, and almost 
always started up and saved him the trouble. She would 
watch his countenance as he read. The captain was a 
sensitive reader, and would drop tears or break into smiles 
as pathos or humor in the subject moved him. One day he 
laughed out loud over his book, and Daney, who was watch- 
ing him, laughed in pure sympathy and then said : 

“ Oh, wead out loud ! Let me hear, too 1” 

That was just what the captain had always wanted ! — a 
sympathetic listener ; though he scarcely expected to find 
one in such a mere baby. He read out, however. And 
Daney listened and understood and sympathized. And 
from that time, whenever the captain came to any very pa- 
thetic or very humorous scene that he thought suited to the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 97 

child’s capacity, he read it aloud to her. And she seemed 
to understand, appreciate, and enjoy. 

One day he said to her : 

“Would you not like to learn to read yourself, Daney?” 

“ Oh, so much !” 

“ Then you shall,” said the captain. 

And he took her on his knee and gave her her first lesson 
in the alphabet from the title page of Rob Roy. 

Daney was an apt pupil. Indeed she was older than she 
seemed. The captain had ascertained from the Drurys 
that she was really seven years of age, though from her 
very minute size and her imperfect speech, he had taken her 
to be only four or five. To teach his little favorite was the 
captain’s most agreeable recreation during that long and 
very severe winter. Daney progressed so rapidly that be- 
fore the spring opened she could read fluently and write a 
little. Her speech was also very much improved ; though 
still, for some reason or other, she found it impossible to 
pronounce certain consonants. June, with roses, came at 
length, and the captain and his little child sat upon the 
front porch, enjoying the glorious weather, the beautiful 
scenery, and the lovely flowers. 

“Oh, grandpa,” said Daney, “to think of last year and 
to think of this ! I’m so happy here !” 

“ And you shall be happier still, Daney, in a few weeks 
from now. My nephew, Fulke Greville, is coming down 
here to spend his midsummer vacation. He has not been 
home for a year before. He is a fine boy, Daney, and will 
be like a big brother to you. Shouldn’t you like a big 
brother, little Daney ?” 

“ Oh, more than any thing in the world. I should get 
well and grow tall if I had a big brother to play with me — 
a tall, strong, rosy-cheeked, black-eyed, big brother, like 
Well Dun.” 

“ And who is Well Dun, Daney ?” 

6 


98 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

« He came over the great water in the big ship with us. 
And he cried oysters in the city where we lived.” 

Daney’s memory and understanding were evidently excel- 
lent, although her utterance was so imperfect. This was 
the first time she had ever alluded to her past life ; and 
now, by diligent questioning, the captain made out that 
Daney had lived in a very large, fine place, before she came 
over the great water — a place much larger and finer than 
this even — where the people were very good to her, and 
where the men servants were dressed like soldiers, and 
where a flag was hoisted on the highest tower when grand - 
pere came. Grand-pere called her ma-petitte- filled 

“ What was grand-p&re’s name, Daney ?” 

“ Grand-pere, nothing else.” 

“ Where was the great house in which you lived ?” 

“I do not know! It was so long ago. It is like a 
dream.” 

“How did you leave that great house, Daney?” 

“ I do not know. I think I woke up in the big ship with 
Judy. And I did not know what she said, and she didn’t 
know what I said, and I had to learn to talk over again.” 

The captain brooded over all this. He thought he saw it 
all plainly enough now. The child was probably French, 
and of high rank. She had been, for some inexplicable 
reason, torn from her friends and her country at three or 
four years of age. She had gradually lost the little she 
knew of her mother-tongue, and had learned to speak im- 
perfectly the language of strangers. He could but hope 
that some chance association of ideas, “ striking the elec- 
tric chain wherewith we are darkly bound,” might some 
time revive in her mind some farther reminiscences of her 
former life, that might afford a clue to her parentage. How 
he reverted to his nephew. 

“ Such a fine, spirited fellow, Daney ! He will put you 
on horseback, and teach you to ride ; and take you in a 
boat, and teach you to row. And that will bring the roses 


THB FORTUNE SEEKER. 


99 


to your pale cheeks. You are the palest child I ever saw, 
Daney.” 

“ Yes ; as pale as that,” said the child, taking up a white 
violet, and handing it to him. 

On the first of July, Fulke Greville came. He came by 
the little steamer Busy Bee, that plied between Baltimore 
and the towns and villages on the Chesapeake and its trib- 
utaries. And once a week it ran up Comport Creek, past 
Fuljoy’s Island, to a tobacco depot, called Creekhead. 
Upon its present trip it stopped to land Fulke Greville at 
the island. The captain walked down to meet his nephew 
at the little pier. Fulke sprang upon the pier, and ad- 
vanced with a joyous step and a beaming countenance to 
meet his uncle. He was now about sixteen years of age, a 
fine, tall, stalwart stripling, dark-skinned, black-eyed, and 
black haired. He held out his hand, and spoke with eager, 
gladdened tones : 

“ Oh, uncle ! I have won honor this year ! See ! here is 
the Annual Report, and my name ” 

“ Yes, yes, my boy, I knew you would do yourself credit,” 
said the captain, stopping Fulke, as the latter would have 
drawn the printed report from his pocket. “ But come in 
now, and get some dinner.” 

They went on through the thicket and up the lovely slope 
of the green hill, and through the shrubberies and the 
flower-garden toward the house. And as they went the 
captain told his nephew of the little girl that he had 
adopted. Fulke listened with interest to the simple story ; 
but shrugged his shoulders at his uncle’s supposition that 
Daney was any other than the child of the Drury’s, who, he 
said, were probably servants at the great house of which 
she had spoken. It had been the novel-reading captain’s 
pleasure to weave a little romance of Daney’s life, and now 
he felt annoyed that Fulke should have brushed it all away, 
as if it had been a cobweb. But they had now reached 
the house, and Fulke went to his room, and washed and 


100 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

changed his dress, and then went down to join the captain 
at dinner. 

“ This is Daney,” said the captain, presenting a tiny, 
pale-faced, bine-eyed, flaxen-haired girl to the youth. “And, 
Daney, this is my nephew Fulke — your big brother that is 
to be. Speak to him !” 

But the child, instead of obeying, or taking the offered 
hand of the youth, stood staring at him as if she were 
struck dumb and motionless. 

“ Why don’t you speak to Fulke, Daney ? it is very rude 
to stare at any one in that way, Daney,” said the captain. 

“Why it — it is Well Dunl” cried Daney, in amazement. 

“ Who t» 

“Well Dun, that came over in the ship with us, and cried 
oysters in the city !” 

The captain looked in perplexity from the boy to the 
girl, while Fulke burst into a loud, boyish laugh. 

“ There ! now I know him by his laugh. I’d know him 
by his laugh even if I did not know him any other way ! 
But I know him every way ! I know him by his eyes, and 
his nose, and mouth, and all ! I know him just as well as I 
know Miss Hit, or you, grandpa,” said the child, positively. 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! you are mistaken this time, young ’un. I 
am no fish boy, but Fulke Greville, a long descendant of 
the celebrated Fulke Greville, who flourished in England, 
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,” laughed Fulke. 

“ Oh ! Well Dun, how can you say so, when I know bet- 
ter ! Didn’t I hear you cry, ‘ Fine oysters,’ every morning 
in the city ? And there ! there’s the very mole on your 
upper lip that Judy used to call a beauty spot !” 

“What is the meaning of all this, Fulke ?” inquired the 
old man. 

“ Indeed, sir, I have not the least idea ! I never set eyes 
upon the child before,” replied the boy, with a look of sur- 
prise. 

“ Oh ! Well Dun ! how can 3^011 say so !” said Daney, be- 
ginning to cry. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


101 


“ Come, come, it is a case of mistaken identity ! Here’s 
Miss Hit, and we will sit down to dinner,” said the captain. 

The housekeeper entered, and was duly introduced to 
Mr. Greville, and then they gathered around the table, 
Daney often leaving off her meal to gaze spell-bound upon 
Eulke Greville, until her guardian would have to call her 
to order. 

It was only after the cloth was removed, and Miss Hit 
had led little Daney away, that the captain and his nephew 
drew their chairs closer together, and over the wine and 
walnuts began to examine the Annual Heport of the Uni- 
versity. There, sure enough, Eulke Greville’s name stood 
high in honor. He had distinguished himself, not only in 
many branches of knowledge, but also in steady and regu- 
lar deportment. 

“ And now, uncle, do you know, I should like to send 
that to my step-mother. She evidently does not trouble her 
head about me ; but I should like her to learn by this re- 
port that I am not a worthless scamp, if I did run away 
from school.” 

“ Well, my boy, I think it quite right, upon every account, 
that it should be sent *, but I think that I had better send 
it, accompanied by a letter explaining that I have adopted 
you, and mean to be responsible for your education and 
establishment in some learned profession,” said Captain 
Fuljoy. 

The letter was written and despatched with the report 
that same evening. 

The next morning Captain Fuljoy, finding himself alone 
with Daney, said : 

“Why did you suppose my nephew to be Well Dun, my 
child ?” 

“ Because he is, grandpa !” said Daney, firmly. 

“ You are mistaken, dear ; this is my own nephew, whom 
I have known ever since he was born, and whom I have 
seen at intervals of one, two, or three years all his life.” 


102 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


11 You are mistaken, grandpa; lie is Well Dun; he came 
over in the big ship with, and he lived in the same street 
with us (it was nastier than the shanty), and he cried 
oysters in the city of a morning. He is Well Diln, grand- 
pa, for there’s the very mole on his lip 1” insisted Daney. 

The captain laughed and patted her head. 

“ My dear little obstinate Daney, you are crazed upon 
this point. But now let me tell you, you must not stare at 
him so, nor call him by any other name than Fulke Gre- 
ville, for you know, to do so would annoy him.” 

“ Well, grandpa, I will call him any thing you please, but 
he is Well Dun all the same, only he is better dressed, and 
so am i.” 

It was evidently a fixed idea with the child, that nothing 
could move. 

But now came an inexplicable mystery. Return of post 
brought a letter from Mrs. Greville, the step-mother of 
Fulke. It was evening, and the captain was sitting in his 
library with his nephew and the little child. He took the 
letter eagerly, saying : 

“ From Mrs. Greville ! Let us see what Madam has to 
say for herself.” 

He opened the letter and read aloud as follows : 

New York, July 1th, 184 — 

Captain Fuljoy — Sir : — I do not in the least understand 
either your extraordinary letter, or the still more extraordi- 
nary presence of Fulke Greville’s name in the list of stu- 
dents published in the Annual Report of the University of 
Virginia. Here seems to be some great error. It is trite 
that about eighteen months since, my step-son, Fulke Gre- 
ville, in a fit of boyish pride, left the school where I had 
jdaced him, and was missing for several days. But so dili- 
gent was the search instituted for him, that he was 
recovered before he had the opportunity of leaving the 
city, and he is now regularly pursuing his studies at the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 103 

New York College. I have augmented his allowance, and 
otherwise redressed his fancied grievances, and he seems 
quite happy, and is every thing I could wish. Who the 
youth may be whom you have taken under your protection 
I cannot imagine ; but if you fancy that I could have left 
my husband’s son to his own devices for eighteen months, 
as you seem to do, you do not know, sir, 

Your obedient servant, 
Gertrude Greville.. 

The uncle and nephew stared at each other in blank 
amazement. 

“ What in Heaven’s name is the meaning of this, sir ?” 
exclaimed the captain. 

“ The Lord only knows ! I do not,” replied the youth. 

“Are you an impostor then, sir?” demanded the old man, 
sternly regarding the speaker. 

“As the Lord hears me, no !” solemnly answered the boy. 
“ How can I be, uncle ? You yourself, who have been in 
the habit of seeing me at intervals ever since my infancy, 
should know my person well.” 

“ So also should your step-mother know the son that she 
has had with her almost daily for years !” 

“ Uncle, I cannot solve this enigma, but I repeat that, as 
the Lord in Heaven, to whom I shall have to give an ac- 
count of every idle word* hears me speak this night, I am 
no impostor, but your nephew, Fulke Greville. Test my 
identity in any way you please ! Cross-question me about 
any events that might have transpired between you and 
myself, in our numerous meetings, events such as could 
only be known to you and me. Or go with me to New 
York and confront me with my step-mother and her so- 
styled Fulke Greville ! Uncle, I am no impostor !” cried 
the youth, with tears of shame and indignation starting to 
his eyes. 

“ My boy, I am constrained to believe you, but all this is 


104 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

very strange. Of course there must be an investigation. 
I will write again to Mrs. Greville. If necessary, I will go 
on to see her,” said the captain, kindly. 

“ I said he was Well Dun,” thought Daney to herself; 
but remembering her promise, she forbore to speak her 
thought. 

The captain wrote again and again, but received no far- 
ther answer to his letters. And just as he was making up 
his mind to make a journey to the north, he happened to 
see, in the list of passengers that sailed on the steamer 
America, for Europe, the names of Mrs. Gertrude Greville 
and Mr. Eulke Greville. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

THE OLD MAN’S DARLING. 


Heed not though none should call thee fair 
So, maiden, let it he, 

If naught in loveliness compare 
With what thou art to me. 

True beauty dwells in deep retreats, 

Whose veil is unremoved 
Till heart to heart in concord beats. 

And the lover is beloved. — Wordsworth. 


Mrs. Greville and her mysterious young protege re- 
mained for several years abroad, extending their wander- 
ings over the greater portions of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
And during all this time Captain Euljoy heard nothing 
directly from them. 

Young Eulke Greville being desired by his self-consti- 
tuted guardian to choose a profession for himself, decided 
in favor of that one which, with his aristocratic prejudices, 
he considered to be the most noble — namely, arms ! 

Captain Fuljoy, acquiescing in his ward’s decision, 
promptly and successfully exerted himself to procure for 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


105 


him an appointment as cadet at the Military Academy at 
West Point, where young Greville soon distinguished him- 
self by his perfect propriety of deportment, his close atten- 
tion to his class-books and military exercises, and by his 
rapid progress in both the latter. 

Daney remained at home with the old man, ever growing 
dearer to his affections. 

The captain was extremely proud of his adopted heir, 
Fulke Greville, who certainly repaid his kindness by the 
most fervent gratitude, and the most earnest endeavors to 
do honor to his patron. 

But the old man was much fonder of his pet child, Daney, 
who returned his affection with the most devoted love. At 
first this was a depending and reverential love, but as the 
years went on, and the old man grew older, and the child 
grew taller — without losing any of its reverence, it became 
a tender and protecting love. 

Once, when the captain was very ill, and his attendants 
would not let her stay in the room, she lay on the mat out- 
side his door, with her forehead upon the floor, like some 
poor faithful little dog, in dumb despair. 

Upon another occasion, soon after his convalescence 
and while he was still very feeble, he and the child crossed 
the creek in a boat, and walked up the opposite wooded 
hill to call on their nearest neighbors, the Burnses of 
Burnstop. As they approached the house, they were met 
by a furious bull-dog, which came bounding toward them 
with the ferocity of a tiger, when, with a piercing shriek, 
Daney sprang forward and threw herself before the enraged 
brute, as a mouthful to employ his huge jaws, while the old 
man might get away. But the surprise of her onset, or the 
flaming sword of the angel in her eyes, caused the savage 
beast to recoil, and before he could renew the attack, the 
hurrying servants of the house called him off, and Daney 
was saved. But she had not the less freely offered up her 
little life for the preservation of the dear old friend whom 


106 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

she loved far more than her own existence. When asked 
what she had been thinking of when she did such a rash 
deed, she answered simply: 

“ I did not think at all ; I did it so the dog might take 
me instead of grandpa.” 

I might multiply instances to prove the earnestness, ten- 
derness, and even heroism of Daney’s love for he* guar- 
dian ; but let these suffice for the present. But you must 
acknowledge it was no wonder the captain grew to dote 
upon this child. 

The captain brooded day and night over the future pros- 
pects of his two proteges. He had long determined to 
leave them all his property, except a few small legacies to 
his needy dependents. But how to divide it satisfactorily 
between the two he could not decide. He did wish to 
leave his lovely home to Daney, who admired it with so 
much enthusiasm. But then he thought to give it to the 
girl would scarcely be just to the boy, who as his adopted 
heir, had a right to expect the inheritance of the real 
estate. 

The old man was at his wit’s end, until at length a bright 
thought struck him. He would marry the young pair, and 
then the property need not be divided at all; for both 
could possess the whole, and both enjoy the same beautiful 
home in common. 

And that they might certainly be united at the proper 
age, he resolved to begin at once to train them toward 
each other ; thinking — simple old bachelor ! — that it might 
be as easy to do so with them as with the two rose trees 
each side the entrance of his porch, which he had trained to 
meet and intermingle their branches overhead. He began 
his human hortieulturing artfully enough. To neither of 
the young people did he hint such a project as their future 
marriage. But he took other measures. With a fine tact 
in seizing fitting occasions, he covertly drew the attention 
of each to the attractions of the other. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


107 


With Fulke Greville he hoped he was succeeding, for the 
young man often cordially joined him in his praises of 
Daney, saying: 

“ Yes, indeed, she is an excellent girl ; a girl of rare good- 
ness, and genius, and beauty also, if she were not so pale.” 

With Daney he feared that he was failing, for she never 
united with him in his commendations of Fulke. On the 
contrary, she would droop her head, while the faintest wild- 
rose bloom would tinge her white cheek. 

And the old man mistook the reticence of the maiden for 
aversion to the subject, and the frankness of the youth for 
love of it, and he said to himself — 

“ I shall have very little trouble in training Fulke toward 
Daney ; but I shall have to train him all the way round to 
meet her, for she does not grow an inch toward him, but 
rather the other way.” 

And that was all the old bachelor knew of youth, maiden- 
hood, and love. 

Whenever Fulke Greville was home for the midsummer 
holidays, he gave his time, with a youth’s generous ardor, to 
the amusement, instruction, and improvement of Daney. 
He took her out to row on the creek, to ride over the op- 
posite hills, or to walk around the beautiful beach of the 
Island. He was an enthusiastic devotee to the fine arts, 
and had attained great proficiency both in music and in 
painting. And it was his delight to instruct Daney in those 
accomplishments which she could not otherwise have at- 
tained, for where could she have found teachers in that 
out-of-the-world retreat ? It is true Miss Hit had once been 
a professor of these arts, but Miss Hit’s fingers were much 
too fat and clumsy now to fly over the keys of the piano, 
or guide a camel’s hair pencil. So young Greville was 
both music and drawing-master to Daney, whom he liked to 
look upon only as a little sister. 

But, alas ! youth turns to love as the roses turn toward 
the light. 


108 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Fulke Greville was now a young man, and when he was 
in the North, he had the entree into the best society, where 
he had made the acquaintance of a rather large circle of 
young ladies, many of whom he very much admired, and 
several of whom he could have loved. So he never even 
dreamed of little, pale, yellow-haired Daney as a bride. 

But poor Daney saw no other young man except him. 
And he was handsome, gay, spirited — and every thing else 
that she was not. The island was always a paradise, but 
when Fulke Greville was there it seemed heaven. And 
when he was away his memory was kept alive by the con- 
stant conversations of the captain, to whom the praises of 
his nephew were the favorite topics. And thus little, pale 
Daney learned to love her tall, splendid foster-brother with 
all the strength and fervor of a soul as impassioned as ever 
burned in the bosom of Sappho. 

The captain, biassed by his preconceived opinion that 
Greville loved Daney and that Daney 'was averse to his 
suit, was very long in discovering the true state of the case. 
But at length even he could no longer be blinded to the 
truth. Daney ’s irrepressible joy when Greville came home, 
her blushing timidity in his presence, and her tearful de- 
pression when he was gone, told the old “o’er true tale.” 

“ Why don’t the young fellow speak out ? He loves her 
and has at length won her love ! Now why the dee don’t 
he ask my consent to their marriage ? Ah 1 I see how it is. 
He thinks I should turn ‘crewel parient’ and make a row. 
Well, if he doesn’t make up his mind to speak to me when 
he comes home at Christmas, I will save him the trial by 
speaking to him” thought the captain. 

And when young Greville came home at Christmas, the 
captain acted upon this resolution. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


109 


CHAPTER XIV. 

THE REJECTED BRIDE. 

I think death were a better thing 
Than loathed love and marriage ring 
Forced on my life together. — E. B. Browning. 

One day when they were sitting over the wine after din- 
ner, he opened the subject by saying: 

“ Well, my dear boy 1 So you are to have your commis- 
sion in January. Now, why do you not speak out ?” 

“ Speak out, sir?” repeated Greville, in perplexity. 

“ Yes, and to the point ! Oh, I dare say that you think 
I should be for throwing some obstacle in your way! 
Nothing of the sort, for nothing would please me better!” 

“ Indeed, I do not understand you, sir ! Speak out ? 
Upon what subject, sir ?” 

“ Upon the subject of Daney , you happy dog !” exclaimed 
the captain, rising in the excess of his good humor, and 
clapping his hand upon the young man’s shoulder. 

“ Daney ? Really, my dear sir, I am more puzzled than 
ever ! What — of what am I to discourse concerning Daney ?” 

“ Your marriage with her, man ! Your marriage with 
her !” chuckled the captain. 

“ My marriage with Daney ! !” 

“ Oh, yes ! you sly dog ! You thought the old man’s 
eyes were blind, and you were afraid to open them ! You 
thought I would turn Turk and forbid you to meet ! turn 
you out of doors ; lock the girl up in her room, and all the 
rest of it ! And so you kept mum ! But, ha ! ha ! you 
dog ! I saw it all the time ! And now I tell you that 
nothing would delight me more ! And you may marry her 
to-morrow if you like !” exclaimed the captain, rubbing his 
hands with glee, and fully expecting that the youth would 
be transported with joy. 


110 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ But here must be some great mistake, sir. I have not 
the least intention of marrying Daney,” said the young 
man, gravely. 

It was now the captain’s turn to re-echo the words of 
Greville. And it was sad to see the look of blank disappoint- 
ment that settled on his face as he did it. 

“ ‘Not the slightest intention of marrying Daney !’ Was 
that what you said ?” N 

“ It was.” 

“ Then in the name of all that is just and true and honest 
and honorable, what were your intentions in seeking her 
affections ?” sternly demanded the captain, returning to his 
chair, sitting down, and gazing steadily into the young 
man’s face. 

“ Indeed, sir, I never sought to win her love ! There is 
some serious mistake,” protested Greville. 

“ Don’t tell me that, sir ! Don’t add falsehood to incon- 
stancy ! But if you have changed your mind — if you have 
seen some new face that you like better than hers, say so ! 
and if you have cast my child off for some new favorite, 
why, black as the sin is, confess it ! Do not make it 
blacker by lying !” exclaimed the captain, indignantly. 

Fulke Greville’s face flushed crimson. His high spirit 
took fire at these words. From any other man he would 
have signally punished them. From his old and kind 
benefactor he was not even at liberty to resent them. But 
he had to recollect the captain’s venerable age and his dis- 
interested benevolence before he could sufficiently control 
his anger to reply coolly. 

“ Uncle, I do not remember ever to have been guilty of 
falsehood or unfaithfulness in my life. And so far from 
having cast Daney off for some new favorite, I have no 
favorite, old or new, except Daney.” 

“ Then why the deuse, sir, do you not marry her ?” 

The young man smiled faintly as he said : 

“ Because I do not wish to marry her.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 111. 

“ Then, sir, I demand again, why did you try to win her 
love ?” 

“And I repeat, I never tried to win her love.” 

“ This is too base I” cried the old man, throwing himself 
back in his chair and looking sternly upon Greville — “ too 
villainous. Do I not know better, sir? Have I not 
watched you, sir ? Whenever you have been home, have 
you not devoted yourself to her ? Have you not rode with 
her, boated with her, walked with her* and read, sung, and 
sketched with her ? Have you not been by her side all day 
and half the night, during your stay here? Sir — sir — ” 
Here, in the excess of indignation and sorrow, the captain’s 
voice broke down. 

“ Uncle, yes, I have done all this,” said Greville ; “but I 
have done it as a brother for a dear little sister. I liked 
Daney. I told you so. I was fond of her. And it gave 
me great pleasure to please her. It was half the delight 
of my holiday to see what a holiday my presence made for 
her. Yes, I was very fond of little Daney.” 

“ Ten thousand devils ! then, as the Dutchmen say, why 
— can’t you marry her ?” demanded the captain, emphati- 
cally. 

“Because, well as I like Daney, I feel the utmost repug- 
nance to doing so,” said the young man, very firmly. 

“ But why ? I ask you why ? You give me no reason 
for this silly repugnance.” 

“ What reason can I give you, sir ? Who can explain 
his own likes or dislikes ? I confess that I cannot.” 

“ But then you don’t dislike Daney !” 

“As a wife I should excessively dislike her!” 

“ Humph ! I think I know where that shoe pinches ! 
Your lordship considers her too poor to be your grace’s 
bride ! too humbly born to become your majesty’s consort !” 
said the old man, in a rage of sarcasm. 

“ No, uncle, that is not the reason, although I should con- 
sider her humble birth quite a sufficient objection to our 
marriage.” 


112 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“You coxcomb ! But let me assure your sublime high- 
ness that I believe her to be well born — the daughter of 
some French nobleman — and I have good reasons for be- 
lieving it ! Come, now, my boy !” said the old man, sud- 
denly changing his manner, “ I see it all now ! You are 
fond of Daney, but your Norman blood rises up against 
the idea of marrying a nameless, portionless girl ! That is 
natural. It was certainly very wrong in you to win her 
affections, without £ distinct purpose of making her your 
wife ; but alas I that was natural also ! for boys will be 
boys, and follow their own feelings, regardless where they 
lead them! I should not have stormed out upon you, my 
lad, and still less should I have mocked your inherited 
pride, for which you are no more accountable than you are 
for your hereditary hair ! I should have reasoned with 
your folly as I am about to do now. Shall we reason to- 
gether, my boy V 1 

“ With all my heart, dear uncle ! believe me, it gives me 
great pain to be at variance with you !” 

“We will not be at variance any longer, Fulke ! we will 
come to an understanding. Now to the point ! since you j 
are fond of Daney, yet do not like to marry a nameless 1 
and portionless girl, I’ll tell you what I will do. I will 
legally adopt Daney and give her my name. I will also be- 
queath to her this island and estate. Then, surely in social 
position she will be nearly enough your equal. Even your 
pride could not revolt at the idea of marrying Miss Fuljoy, 
the sole heiress of Fuljoy’s Isle! Could it, now?” 

“ It could not !” 

“ I said so 1 Oh, it will all come right !” 

“ Uncle ! do not misapprehend me ! I told you that it ! 
was not Daney ’s position that I most objected to. And no 
change in her position could affect my feelings toward her. 

I love her as a little sister ; but I could not tolerate her as 
a wife ! and I could not if she were the heiress of an earl- 
dom !” persisted the young man. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 118 

11 Fulke ! Fulke !” said the captain, repressing his rising 
anger, but betraying his great sorrow in the liquid depths 
of his tones ; “ consider, boy ! you admit that you are fond 
of her ! You have always shown this fondness ! Whether 
you intended it or not, you have won her devoted love ! 
Oh, boy ! boy ! take to your own the heart that you have 
won ! Draw her close enough to yourself to learn how ex- 
cellent a thing is a true maiden’s love ! Take the rich gift 
that heaven has offered you, and learn its priceless worth I 
Take her, boy ! You will learn to love her as devotedly as 
she loves you — more than that you cannbt love ! Take her, 
Fulke ! You have won her heart ! Give her your own 1” 

“ Uncle,” began the youth, slowly and sorrowfully, “ if 
this be true — if I have unintentionally won Daney’s love, 
I am deeply grieved to hear it ! It will overshadow my 
whole life with remorse ! But not even for this can I for- 
swear myself and sully my honor by marrying one whom 
as a wife I could not love !” 

“ Boy ! boy ! how know you that you could not love her ? 
She is so very lovely. Oh, Fulke, listen to me. She is my 
child ; not the child of my flesh, but the child of my affec- 
tions ; dearer to me, I will be sworn, than ever was a daughter 
to a father before. As a baby she came to me of her own 
sweet will, and she loved me, and made my lonely home 
luminous with her presence. She is all love, my — precious 
child ! Fulke ! Fulke ! my life is centered in her happiness. 
If she were to be wretched I should die. Oh, boy 1 if ever 
I have been kind to you, be kind to my child !” 

“ Uncle ! friend ! benefactor ! that adjuration would send 
me into the jaws of death to serve you, but not into dis- 
honor. Oh, can you not see, sir, that it is shameful to wed 
a woman without loving her ? Do you not feel that you 
are doing a grievous wrong to Daney by making this appeal 
to me ? And would you really have me wrong Daney so 
much as to marry her for mere pity ?” 

1 


114 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“Yes! for I could trust Daney to inspire you with a 
higher sentiment in a month.” 

“ Why does she not inspire it now ?” 

“ Because she is just the sort of woman to be more pas- 
sionately loved as a wife, than as a maiden. It would 
require the close intimacy of married life to develop all 
her worth! Marry her from any motive you like — only 
marry her, and I will trust in heaven and in Daney for the 
result.” 

“ Uncle, I cannot ! It is best to bring this painful inter 
view to a close. Let me be very plain with you. You 
thought it was Daney’s position I objected to, and you 
generously offered to improve it. And though I confess 
her position would in itself have been an objection, yet 
there was a greater one still in her person. Uncle, ex- 
amining my feelings now for the first time, I find that it is 
her person that repels me. I could never fancy, as a wife, 
so pale a girl as Daney ! Forgive me that I have spoken 
so plainly. Your importunity made it necessary,” said 
Fulke Greville, gravely. 

“ Yes, Daney is pale ! pale as a pearl ! And a pearl she 
is, too, of great price, did you know how to value her ! So 
this is your final answer, sir ?” 

“ Uncle, it must be.” 

“ Don’t uncle me, you villain !” cried the veteran, the 
suppressed fire of his anger bursting into flame. “Iam 
no uncle of yours, and never was ! No, thank heaven, 
not a drop of my blood runs in your veins ! And now, 
Mr. Fulke Greville, if you are Mr. Fulke Greville ! (for I 
begin to doubt that questionable fact), I must beg you, at 
your earliest convenience, to seek quarters in some house 
more worthy of your honorable presence, and more agree- 
able to your fine feeling than, I fear, I can make this.” 

Fulke Greville arose and stood before his guardian, say- 
ing, sorrowfully: 

“ Sir, you have spoken angrily, and therefore unjustly. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 115 

But I agree with you, that for all reasons I had better leave 
the house at once. I shall endeavor to forget the painful 
scene of this evening, and remember only the great kind- 
ness that I have received at your hands, and the happiness 
I have enjoyed in your house. And so, sir, I wish you 
good-by !” 

The captain was shaken by a variety of contending emo- 
tions — shame, pride, sorrow, anger, love — all warring to- 
gether in his heaving bosom. 

“ Fulke I” he uttered, in a choked voice, “ I cannot ask 
you to stay; but — if — at any future time*— you should 
change your mind — and come here and ask me for Daney — 
I will try — to forgive you !” 

The young man bowed deeply, and withdrew. In cross- 
ing the entrance hall, he laughed softly to himself, exclaim- 
ing: 

“ Why, if I could possibly be weak enough to marry that 
girl for her fortune, I should certainly be wicked enough to 
murder her for my freedom !” 

Ah ! how little did he think that, softly as these words 
were murmured, they were overheard ! — that lightly as they 
were uttered, they would one day fall heavily upon his own 
doomed head. The same night he packed up his portman- 
teau, and left the island by the “ Busy Bee/’ that passed at 
nine o’clock. 

Daney was amazed at the suddenness of his departure ; 
but was told by the captain that he had gone to Washing- 
ton, to see about the lieutenant’s commission that he ex- 
pected to receive immediately. And this was true so far as 
it went. 

Early in January, Fulke Greville received a lieutenant’s 
’’commission in a regiment ordered for active service on the 
Indian frontier. 

And when Fulke Greville departed for his distant post of 
duty without ever having returned to bid her good-by, 
Daney’s tender heart was almost broken. She wept in se- 


116 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


cret, never appearing in the presence of her guardian until 
she thought all traces of tears were washed from her face. 
But her grief could not be hidden from the eyes of love 
that were watching over her. 

“ * Too pale,’ ” said the captain, looking at this fair, droop- 
ing human blossom, who, though sixteen years of age, was 
still all of one color — pale face and pale yellow hair. “ This 
must and shall be amended. She must have a change of 
air and something, also, to engage her thoughts.” 

And acting upon this resolution, the captain packed up, 
left the house under the care of Miss Hit and the servants, 
and took his child up north to the State of Vermont, and 
placed her in a first-class establishment for young ladies, 
that was situated in the Green Mountains, and celebrated 
equally for the excellence of its educational system, and 
for the salubrity of its atmosphere. 

The captain, who was confined to no spot, whose home 
was ever where his heart was, took a little cottage in the 
immediate vicinity of the school, so that he could see his 
child whenever he pleased, and she could have a home of 
her own to come to every Saturday afternoon to stay until 
Monday morning. And once established in his pretty cot- 
tage among the mountains, the captain’s spirits rose 
mightily. 

“If Daney’s mind and body both don’t gain strength 
here, the deuse will be in it,” said the captain. And then 
his heart relented toward his banished nephew. “And, 
poor boy,” he said, “ I was wrong to have quarrelled with 
him so rashly, and he alone in the world 1 I should have 
trusted to time to bring all right. But ah, dear me ! old 
age has brought me gray hairs without wisdom, it appears.” 

And so he wrote to his nephew, frankly expressing his 
regret at their misunderstanding, retracting all pretentions 
to his hand for Haney, and begging that they might uncon- 
ditionally resume their old relations of uncle and nephew. 

In due course of time came Lieutenant Greville’s an- 
swer, full of affectionate gratitude. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


117 


And thus the correspondence was resinned. Daney’s 
name was seldom mentioned. “How is my little sister?” 
Fulke would sometimes inquire. And “ Daney is quite 
well” would be the answer. Indeed the correspondence, 
though very friendly, was very rare between the veteran, 
who was unused to the pen, and the young officer, who was 
continually moving about from fort to fort on the distant, 
unsettled, Western frontier. 


4 - 

CHAPTER XY. 

ASTREA. 

What heavenly smiles ! 0 lady mine, 

Through my very heart they shine ; 

And if my brow gives back their light, 
l)o thou look gladly on the sight ; 

As the clear moon, with modest pride, 

Beholds her own bright beams 
Reflected from the mountain’s side 
And from the headlong streams. — Wordsworth. 

Three years passed away. Fulke Greville spent them 
among the frontier forts. 

It was a period of comparative peace, when there was 
nothing more stirring than an occasional skirmish with the 
disaffected Indian tribes, and when, consequently, promo- 
tion was very slow in the army. 

Yet, for some signal service rendered in a perilous en- 
counter with the renowned Camanche chief, Wickahonickali, 
and his fierce warriors, our hero was so highly commended 
by his superior officer, in his despatches to the Secretary 
of War at Washington, that his friends soon had to direct 
all letters intended for him to Colonel Fulke Greville. 

The young officer was himself made the bearer of the 
despatches, giving an account of this affair, and recom- 
mending him for promotion. 


118 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


He arrived in Washington early in February, at the 
height of the fashionable season, when the city was over- 
flowing with the elite of the whole nation. The beauty, 
talent, wealth, and fashion of the North, South, East, and 
West were gathered here in a focus of splendor. The ho- 
tels and boarding houses were crowded to excess, and the 
Avenue, on a fine day, rivalled in display the celebrated 
Boulevards of Paris. Fashionable amusements were rife, 
and plays, operas, concerts, lectures, balls, and masquer- 
ades daily and nightly offered themselves to the choice of 
the embarrassed visitor. 

Colonel Greville’s despatches were a sufficient introduc- 
tion into the best society of the metropolis. And as soon 
as he had concluded his business at the War Department, 
and established himself comfortably at “ Brown’s,” he gave 
himself up to social life, with the intense enjoyment of a 
young man long absent from its pleasures. 

In the midst of his round of fashionable dissipation, how- 
ever, he found time to write to his uncle, who was now 
living upon the island, informing him of his recent promo- 
tion, and asking, carelessly, “ How is my little foster-sis- 
ter?” And in a few days he received an answer, warmly 
congratulating him upon his rise in rank, which the writer 
declared had been bravely won, and would be gracefully 
worn ; and answering his question by saying — “ Daney is 
well.” 

One night, Colonel Greville went to the National The- 
atre to see a celebrated English tragedian who was fulfilling 
an engagement in Washington, and upon this occasion was 
to appear in the character of King Lear. 

This was the first time Colonel Greville had been in a 
theatre for three years. And he enjoyed it as a long fast- 
ing man would enjoy a feast. He had purposely chosen a 
seat in the front row of the dress circle immediately before 
the stage, so that he could have a panoramic view of the 
audience as well as of the actors. For the audience in 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 119 

itself was a rarely delightful spectacle to a young soldier 
fresh from a three years’ hermitage in a frontier fortress. 

The house was full, and the dress circle was sumptuous 
in its display of well-dressed women in all the splendor of 
velvets, silks, and satins, feathers, flowers, and gems. Col- 
onel Greville’s glance roved over this parterre of beauty as 
a bee over a field of flowers, uncertain where to rest. Sud- 
denly his roving eyes became fixed, riveted, spell-bound to 
the face of a young lady sitting with the French minister’s 
party in a private box, on the right-hand side of the stage. 

“ Who is that radiant creature sitting between Monsieur 
and Madame de Coucy ?” at length he inquired, turning to 
an acquaintance who had just taken a seat beside him. 

tm I have been around the house asking that question of 
everybody, and no one knows. This seems to be her first 
appearance in society. She is some new arrival from Paris, 
I fancy. Probably a daughter or niece or younger sister 
of Madame. If I had the slightest acquaintance with the 
French .Minister’s lady, I would drop into her box, with the 
hope of being presented to Mademoiselle,” said Captain 
Gedne}q the party addressed. 

Colonel Greville was more fortunate. He had a slight 
acquaintance with Madame de Coucy, and he had in his 
pocket at that very moment a card of invitation to a ball 
to be given by her on the approaching Wednesday. But 
he would have hesitated long before intruding into her pri- 
vate box. But this was only the scruple of a very fastidi- 
ous nature. And although his gaze was strongly drawn 
toward that box, he was careful to withdraw it before it was 
observed by the occupants. 

And she upon whom he gazed was indeed a “ radiant” 
creature. He had used exactly the right word in describing 
her. Some beautiful women are like flowers. This girl was 
like a star ! Her form was of the pleasing middle height, 
but softly rounded out to the fullness of health and beauty. 
Her features were faultless as ever were those chiselled by 


120 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

Grecian artist as his ideal of perfection. Her complexion 
was of dazzling fairness, kindling into a vivid bloom upon 
the cheeks and lips. Her rich golden hair sparkled like 
fire. Her deep blue eyes radiated light ! She wore a dress 
of rich moire-antique, and diamonds blazed upon her snowy, 
rounded bosom and arms, and amid her golden hair. 

In all his life he thought he had never seen, or read, or 
dreamed of such resplendent beauty. And by an associa- 
tion of contrasts his mind reverted to Daney — the little, 
pale, dim girl that his uncle would have forced upon him 
as a bride — and he laughed ! 

The play was about to commence. The curtain slowly 
arose, and the court of King Lear was revealed. The great 
tragedian who assumed the principal character for the even- 
ing was greeted by an enthusiastic round of applause. As 
soon as the tumult subsided and the performance com- 
menced, all eyes were turned toward the scene — all except 
Colonel Greville ! I fear the great artist received but little 
notice from him. For now that the beauty was gazing upon 
the stage, he could gaze at her without offence. 

When the curtain fell upon the first act, the box of Mad- 
ame De Coucy was surrounded by gentlemen who lounged 
there with the evident intention of being presented to Mad- 
emoiselle. And the “ star” was encircled by a galaxy of 
satellites. She received all who bowed before her, with the 
dignity, grace, and perfect self-possession of a Queen. In 
truth, she looked like a Queen accepting the homage of her 
court. 

Colonel Greville’s heart burned with envy. Yet as a too 
recent acquaintance of Madame De Coucy, he would not 
venture to go around and join her circle. This, as I said, 
was only the fastidious hesitation of a young man w'ho had 
been rusticating in the Western wilds for three years past. 

When the curtain rose upon the second act, the gentlemen 
surrounding Madame De Coucy and her fair companion 
bowed and withdrew — only to resume their attendance at 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


121 


the next interlude of the drama. And Colonel Greville 
breathed a deep sigh of relief, and again rivetted his eyes 
upon the beauty while she fixed hers upon the stage. And 
thus it went on through the whole evening. 

At length the curtain fell upon the death of Lear. The 
successful artist was vociferously called out, made his 
speech, received his meed of applause, and bowed himself 
off. Then Madame De Coucy and her party retired from 
the house. 

“Heavens! She is gone! And I feel as if all the gas 
had been turned off I” exclaimed Captain Gedney. 

Colonel Greville turned fiercely around. He felt as if he 
would like to annihilate the speaker. To Mm it seemed as 
if the sun had set. He had gazed upon this radiant beauty 
until he was dazzled, bewildered, intoxicated. The pleasure 
of the evening was all over — the past was a dream, the 
present nothing, the future, the golden future, every thing, 
as offering the one transporting hope of meeting her again 
— meeting her at Madame He Coucy ’s ball on Wednesday 
evening ! Like one walking in sleep, he left the theatre 
and strolled down the snow-clad, moon-lit avenue to his 
lodgings. 


ir 




v 


122 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER XYI. 

THE CHOSEN ONE. 

This bridal wreath 1 no ruder crown 
Should deck that dazzling brow ; 

Or ask yon halo from the moon — 

’Twould well beseem thee now 

I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 

I crown thee queen of me ! 

And oh ! but I am a happy land 
And a loyal land to thee. 

I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 

Thou art queen by right divine ! 

And thy love shall set neither night nor day 
O’er this subject heart of mine. — Festus. 

Wednesday evening came. All the rooms on the first 
floor of Madame De Coney’s house were thrown open to her 
company. The saloons were beautifully decorated, bril- 
liantly illumined, and well filled. Not crowded, for the 
hostess had too much good taste to invite more guests than 
she could agreeably entertain, and thus turn an occasion of 
pleasure into one of discomfort. The rooms were cool and 
spacious. The elegant toilets of the ladies were displayed 
to advantage, for they were not lost in a confused press. 
The dances were delightful, for there was space to move 
about in. 

At ten o’clock Colonel Greville was announced, and he 
immediately advanced to the spot wdiere Madame De Coucy 
stood to receive her guests. He made his bow, and was 
graciously received by his hostess. 

Near them, but with her back turned, stood his angel ! 
Her face was quite averted ; but he knew her by her spark- 
ling, golden hair, and the ineffable grace of her head and 
neck and falling shoulders. She was receiving the homage 
of a bevy of admirers. 

Madame De Coucy laid the tip of her white gloved linger 
upon the beauty’s arm, saying, in a low voice : 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 123 

“Ma belle.” The young lady turned. “ Permit me to 
present to you Monsieur le Colonel Greville. Monsieur, 
Mademoiselle Astrea De Glacie.” 

There was a low bow on the gentleman’s part and a slight 
curtsy on the lady’s, before they looked up at each other. 

Yes ! there she stood, the glorious young creature ! more 
radiantly beautiful than ever, her dress more chastely ele- 
gant than before. It was a dress of transparent white lace 
over a skirt of shining white satin. Wreaths of lillies, 
gemmed with the dew drops of small diamonds* festooned 
her skirts, and rested on her bosom, and crowned her golden 
hair. As their eyes met there flashed into her lovely face 
a look of — What? Joy? Recognition? This was scarcely 
possible, yet it seemed very like it ! What could it mean ? 

In a voice low, and vibrating with emotion, he asked if 
he could have the honor of Mademoiselle’s hand for the 
quadrille that was then forming. 

She was engaged for that and for the next half dozen. 
But she would promise Colonel Greville her hand in the 
eighth dance. 

She had scarcely given him this unsatisfactory answer 
before her hand was claimed for the present quadrille, and 
she was led off to the head of the set. 

And as he watched her floating, lightly floating through 
the dance, it seemed to him as if her motions made the 
music, and she herself were some fair spirit wafted down 
from a brighter world, or some seraph ready to ascend to 
heaven. 

So, you see, he was very far gone in the madness called 
love. 

Dance after dance ! Her hand was never disengaged nor 
her feet weary. Would she never be free ? And was he to 
wait there forever, attending upon Madame De Coney, and 
watching the beauty floating away with other gentlemen ? 

At length, at the end of the fourth quadrille, there was 
an interlude for refreshments. 


124 : THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

She was led back to the side of her chaperone by her 
partner, Captain Gedney, who had somehow manoeuvered 
successfully to get a late invitation to this ball, with the 
especial purpose of seeing the beauty. 

He now lingered by her side, officiously fanning her and 
talking a deal of rubbish. At least so thought the exas- 
perated Colonel Greville. 

At length, however, the band struck up the music for a 
waltz, and the captain bowed himself off to find his partner 
for that dance. 

Then Mademoiselle De Glacie, turning to Colonel Gre- 
ville, said : 

“You met me quite as a stranger. And I really do not 
think you know me yet.” 

He looked at her in astonishment. And all the blood in 
his body rushed to his heart, as she said : 

“ I am Haney.” 

You might have levelled him with a feather ! Haney ? 
What 

This beautiful, resplendent creature ; this blooming and 
radiant Hebe, with her fair roseate complexion, her full 
ruby lips, her shining golden hair, her sparkling sapphire 
eyes — was this the once pale, dim, fady little Haney ? This 
glorious girl, arrayed in all the splendor of rank and 
wealth, and surrounded by the 61ite of the town — was she 
the lately poor, obscure, and nameless little Haney ? 

This reigning belle, this queen of love and beauty, for 
whose beaming smiles the proudest in the land were sueing 
— could she ever have been the wretched little Haney, 
whose love he had despised, and whose hand he had 
rejected ? 

Oh, what an error I 

“Mea culpa 1 mea maxima culpa!” he might have ex- 
claimed from the very depths of his soul ! for ah ! how much 
more deeply men repent of their luckless mistakes than of 
their profitable sins ! 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


125 


He was utterly overwhelmed and confounded ; he could 
not find a word to say ; he heartily wished the earth would 
open and swallow him ! he was even glad when, the instant 
after she had spoken, and before there was need of his 
reply, a gentleman stepped up and, apologizing for unavoid- 
able delay, claimed the honor of her hand for the quadrille 
then formed, and waiting only for her to begin. 

“I see you did not recognize me,” smiled Daney (or As- 
trea, as we must henceforth call her), as she moved away to 
join the dancers. 

Recognize her, indeed ! How on earth should he recog- 
nize one so entirely transformed in person that neither out- 
line, form, color, nor expression were the same ? 

The outline of Haney’s features had been sharp ; those of 
Astrea were curved. Daney’s complexion had been as pale 
as a crocus ; Astrea’s was blooming as a rose. Daney’s 
form had been fragile as a fairy’s ; Astrea’s was softly 
rounded out to the fullness of health and beauty, like a 
Hebe’s. Daney’s expression of countenance had been sub- 
dued and saddened ; Astrea’s was beaming and joyous. 
Daney had been a miserable little beggar, rescued from an 
Irish shanty ; Astrea bore one of the haughtiest names of 
Normandy ! He had left Daney in the most secluded of all 
rustic homes ; he found Astrea amid the blaze of fashion in 
the metropolis ! 

How, indeed, should he recognize her until she revealed 
herself to him ? Then truly, through all these external 
transformations, he did recognize the same frank, warm, 
pure, and good-hearted little Daney ! 

But whence came these transformations ? It was time 
and training, of course, that had developed and improved 
her person. But whence the change of name and position ? 
Could the old captain’s romantic conjecture, that she was 
the child of some noble French family, really have proved 
true? Yes! that must be the solution of the mystery! 
He had scarcely arrived at this satisfactory conclusion, 


126 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


when the quadrille was finished, the music hushed, and 
Mademoiselle De Glacie was led back to her place. 

He had now quite recovered his self-possession — and 
what helped him to that recovery was the instinctive feeling 
that Astrea could not possibly know any thing about his 
rejection of Daney. He was, therefore, now able to address 
her with his usual suave and stately courtesy : 

“ This has been a delightful surprise to me, Mademoi- 
selle,’ J he said. 

Astrea bent gravely in acknowledgment of the compli- 
ment. Then looked up archly, saying only with her speak- 
ing eyes: 

“You did not seem so very much delighted, Monsieur?” 

He understood that humorous glance, and replied to it : 

“I was, indeed, speechless with astonishment.” Then 
slightly changing the subject, he said : “I hope, Mademoi- 
selle, I may congratulate you on a reunion with your 
family ?” 

“ My family?” she echoed, with a puzzled look. 

“ I presume the favorite theory of my uncle, in respect to 
yourself, has proved a true one ?” 

Still that perplexed, unconscious look. 

“You surely know to what I allude ? — the early reminis- 
cences, the chateau, the grandp^re, the flag tower ” 

A ray of intelligence illumined her dancing eyes, a sil- 
very laugh parted her rosy lips, as she answered : 

“ The chateau-en-Espagne ! Oh, no, you are not to con- 
gratulate me on any thing of the kind !” Then, gravely and 
coolly, she added : “ But this is not the scene in which to 
revive those subjects.” 

“ One word — you have not, then, discovered” — he paused, 
and Astrea replied : 

“I have discovered nothing — except that Colonel Gre- 
ville is quite unconscious that he is submitting me to a 
cross-examination. ” 

Rebuked, and by little Daney! Truly the world was 
turned upside down ! 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


127 


“ Mademoiselle, you will kindly pardon my rudeness. I 
have been in the backwoods for some years past, and may 
have lost what little of civilization I ever possessed,” he 
said, with freezing politeness. 

Daney was by no means frozen by his coldness. She 
bowed and smiled in good humored acknowledgment of 
the correctness of his observations, and the next instant 
gave her hand to a foreign ambassador, with a name and 
title a yard and a half long, who came to claim her hand 
for the schottische, and soon they — the ambassador and the 
beauty — were entwined, and tripping down the room in that 
most provoking and exasperating of all dances, especially 
when it is danced by your own lady-love with some other 
gentleman ! 

“ My very dear fellow, what ails you ? Are you ill ? 
what is it, tooth-ache ? neuralgia ? come into the refresh- 
ment room, and take a glass of brandy, and it may relieve 
you,” said Captain Gedney, coming to his side and noticing 
the fierce anguish of jealousy that Greville was uncon- 
sciously betraying in his ingenuous countenance. 

“ I am not ill ? Who ” 

“Then never scowl like that in society. The melodra- 
matic is at present out of fashion !” 

“I do not pretend to fashion ; I am just from the back- 
woods. But who is that insufferable puppy v/altzing with 
Mademoiselle De Glacie ?” 

“ That insufferable puppy is His Excellency Senor Don 
Salvador Sebastiano Mario, Modeno Aspos y Nono, Count 
de los ” 

“ There ! that will do ” 

— “ Terros, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Pleni- 
potentiary from the court of Brazil to the cabinet at Wash- 
ington ! You wish to know who he is. There, that’s who 
| he is at full length.” 

“ I wish he were garroted !” burst forth Greville. 

“ And so do I ! but it will not do to express that wish in 


128 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


such energetic language. By the way, I have heard this 
evening that he is affianced to Mademoiselle De Grlacie. I 
should think it quite likely. Those gipsy-looking Spaniards 
do wonderfully affect fair-haired blonde beauties. Oh! I 

say ! really, now, you must have the face-ache ! Let me 
bring you something.” 

Colonel Greville turned abruptly, and walked away. It 
was too hot in the dancing room. He went into the con- 
servatory. It was too close there. It was too hot and 
close everywhere ! He felt suffocated. He rushed out into 
the garden to calm himself under the quiet stars, to cool 


his fever in the fresh air. 

So she was to be married ! She whom he now loved so 
passionately that the idea of her union with another 
suggested suicide as the only relief for himself from the 
torture of living to know it ! She who had once loved him 
so truly that he might have made her his very own, had he 
had the sense to value her. She whose love he had slighted 
and despised until it was lost to him forever. Truly he 
was the swine of the Scripture parable ; the chanticleer of 
Esop’s fable. Like that sapient beast and fastidious bird, 
he had cast away a precious pearl, not knowing its price- 
less worth. 

He would have left the scene of festivity at once, only he 
was bound by an agreement to dance the eighth quadrille 
with her. He therefore returned to the house, where he 
found the company all moving toward the supper room. 
Astrea was conducted thither by Senor Don, etc. Of 
course, that was to be expected. With a profound sigh, 
he gave his arm to Madame De Coucy, and followed in 
their wake. 

The weary supper was over at last. The promised 
quadrille with her was danced — the first and last that ever 
he would dance with her, he secretly swore ! What ! trust 
himself to dance with her again, amid all the delirious 
fascination of melodious sound and motion, and she the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


129 


promised bride of another ? Never, the trial was too great. 
At the close of the quadrille he led her to the side of 
Madame De Coucy, lingered only so long as etiquette pre- 
scribed, and then bowed and retired. He resolved never 
to see her again, but, despite the attractions of the metro- 
polis, and his own long leave of absence, he determined to 
return to the frontier fort where he held command. 

The next morning he arose from a sleepless bed and 
feverish pillow, hoping to find, amid the active business of 
the day, that forgetfulness which he had failed to find upon 
his couch at night. He packed his trunk and portman- 
teau, and was in the act of making his toilet for a round of 
farewell morning calls, when his door was unceremoniously 
opened, and in walked — Captain Fuljoy ! 

“ My dear uncle I” 

“ My dear boy 1” 

These were the first words of greeting on each side, as 
both hands of uncle and nephew met in a double shake. 

11 When did you arrive ?” inquired Greville. 

“ Why, now ; just at this moment, I may say ! Came by 
the ‘Busy Bee’ to Baltimore; took the train to Washing- 
ton, and here I am ! Breakfasted ?” 

“ No, sir.” 

“ Then we’ll have it together now, at once! You know I 
always breakfast at eight. It is now eleven, and I have 

n<*t broken my fast yet ! To the d (I was going to say) 

with fashionable hours !” 

Observe , since the captain had left off sea-service, he 
had left off swearing ; he never swore now, but always was 
a-o’oino; to ! In other words, he swore as much as ever, 

© O 

through the force of habit, but always remembered to add 
the saving clause — “ I was going to say.” 

Colonel Greville rung and ordered breakfast for two, 
which was accordingly served in the adjoining parlor. 

When they were comfortably seated — 

8 


130 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Seen Daney yet ?” inquired the captain, with his mouth 
full of ham. 

“Yes, sir, twice; but not under that name,” answered 
Greville, anxiously, feeling sure that now at least he should 
solve the mystery ; for since Daney had acknowledged that 
her parentage had never been discovered, the change of her 
name filled his mind with wonder and conjecture. But to 
his disappointment and mortification the captain merely 
answered — 

“No, certainly not under that name,” and continued his 
long protracted meal in silence. 

When his appetite was at length quite satisfied, and the 
tedious breakfast was at length quite over, the captain 
wiped his mouth and gray moustaches, and with a sigh 
of intense satisfaction, leaned back in his chair, and in- 
quired — 

“ What do you think of Daney, now ?” 

“ She is surpassingly beautiful ! More beautiful than any 
human being I ever saw before ! Much more beautiful 
than I deemed it possible that Daney ever could become.” 

“ My man !” said the captain, significantly — “ three years 
ago Daney was but in outline — a mere faint pencil sketch 
by her Creator ; now she is that sketch filled out, colored, 
finished. That is all. She is still the same Daney. But 
man, man, he is a poor artist who cannot see the beauty 
of the finished picture in its first faint outlines !” % 

“ I know it, sir I I know it, and I am that poor artist ; 
for, ah ! I never found out the value of this picture until 
it was too late ! until it was bespoken for another gallery 
than mine !” sighed the colonel. 

“ What do you mean ? Leave metaphor, even though 1 
did set the example of using it, and speak literally.” 

“ Then I never appreciated the real worth of our Daney 
until she was lost to me forever I” 

“ Well! you have left metaphor only to speak in riddle* 
What do you mean now?” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 131 

“ Daney, Astrea, I should say, is the promised bride of 
another.” 

“ Hem ! Of whom, if you please ?” coolly inquired the 
captain. 

“ His Excellency, Senor Don Salvador ” 

“Etc., etc., etc. I know the lubber! Who told you 
so ?” 

“ Common rumor.” 

“ As if you did not know common rumor to be a common 
story-teller ! Bosh ! She is no more going to marry him, 
than I am going to marry the Queen of Morocco !” 

“Are you sure, sir?” exclaimed the young man, with 
breathless eagerness. 

“ Certain. Daney ’s hand is free.” 

“ And — her affections ?” 

“ Well, sir ! remembering what passed between you and 
me upon that subject three years ago, I consider your ques- 
tion rather of the ratherest.” 

“ Uncle ! do not mock me ! I love Daney ! love her, aye ! 
to my own perdition, should her affections be otherwise 
engaged !” 

“ Well ! don’t lay violent hands upon yourself yet 
awhile ! Nor upon me either 1” added the captain, seeing 
that his nephew, in his excitement, had started up and con- 
fronted him. 

“ Is she free in heart and hand ?” passionately demanded 
the young man. 

“ Free in heart and hand, I do firmly believe ! — Yet stay, 
I spoke too fast. I fear she is not quite free in heart ” 

“ Oh, sir ! in mercy ! what are you about to tell me !” 

“ Why, you see, Daney is not quite perfect any more 
than any other human being is. She has a soft spot in her 
head like the rest of her sisterhood. And that soft spot is 
where the memory of her boyish playmate melted the brain ” 

“Does she remember me with kindness ? Oh ! if I 
thought she did, or could, I should almost die with joy.” 




132 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Softly, my dear fellow, softly. Do you wish to marry 
Daney ?” 

“ Wish to marry her ! Wish to marry that peerless crea- 
ture? Sir, I would almost barter my soul’s salvation to 
call her mine.” 

“ Stay, let us understand each other. Daney is in better 
health and spirits, and is better educated and better dressed 
than she was three years ago ; she has also a prettier name, 
and mixes more in society. That is all. Her position 
and prospects are in no degree changed from what they 
were.” 

“ I know it, sir, though her change of name led me to 
suppose so. But may I inquire if'that name is her own ?” 

“ Her own, sir ! Of course, it is her own !” 

“ Then De Glacie was her family name ?” 

“No. I know nothing of her family. It is her bap- 
tismal name. Let me explain. Soon after you left us, 
three years ago, I was having the ruins of that fisherman’s 
cottage, which was blown down in the gale, cleared away. 
Among the rubbish was found the lid of a leather box. 
Upon it was a brass plate, bearing an inscription that was 
nearly illegible from rust. I had it cleaned, and then read 
clearly the name, Astrea De Glacie. At the same time, 
the bishop of the diocese was visiting our parish for the 
purpose of confirming our young people. Now Daney was 
one of the candidates for confirmation, but we were not 
sure, you see, that Daney had ever been baptized. And 
such a good churchman as myself was not going to chance 
that. So, to make sure, we had her baptized before con- 
firmation. Miss Hit and myself stood sponsors. And 
right or wrong, we gave her the name of Astrea De Glacie. 
So, if it is not hers by birthright, it is by baptism. We 
hoped that the name might be some clue to the discovery 
of her friends, supposing that she has any in the world 
beside ourselves.” 

“ Have you heard any thing of the Druries since they 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 133 

left Comport ?” inquired the young man, taking advantage 
of a pause. 

“Not one word, though I have caused inquiries to be 
made for them. Soon after the rites of baptism and con- 
firmation were performed for Daney, I took her to a 
Northern school among the mountains of New England, 
where she remained two years and a half. It was there that 
she developed into such a fine woman. I then took her to 
Europe, where we spent three months in travelling over 
the continent, and three in the city of Paris. I introduced 
her everywhere as Mademoiselle Astrea De Glacie, hoping, 
you see, that there, at least, the name might lead to some 
discovery. It was in Paris, at the house of our minister, 
that we first met Monsieur and Madame de Coucy. Our 
acquaintance grew into intimacy during our three months 7 
sojourn in Paris. And our intimacy ripened into friend- 
ship, when fortune made us fellow-passengers in the Baltic, 
when he was coming out as minister to this government, 
and we were returning to our native country. During that 
trip, Madame de Coucy grew so much attached to Astrea 
that, upon our arrival at Washington, she begged as a favor 
the young lady might be left in her charge for the season. 
Weill I knew that Astrea could not enter metropolitan 
society under better auspices. So I left her to the chape- 
ronage of Madame De Coucy, while I ran down to the 
island to see how the home ship was working ; found all 
right under the command of first mate Hit, and then, feel- 
ing lonesome for the want of my little Daney, I just 
boarded the Busy Bee as she passed on Tuesday morning, 
and here I am. For you see I cannot exist a week without 
my little Daney, so if they wish to keep Mademoiselle 

Astrea for the whole season, I’ll be d d (I was going to 

say) if they don’t have to take me too 1” 

“ One word — does Madame know her real position in your 
family?” 

“ How can I tell ? Madame met us in the first circles of 


134 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

Paris, and so no question as to Mademoiselle’s position 
could possibly arise. She knows her to be my ward. That 
is sufficient. And that, I think, is all we shall ever know 
of her ! for Greville, I think that my first idea of her being 
other than she seemed might have been all moonshine ! So 
if the least hope of finding her out to be some great French 
demoiselle influences your feelings toward her, give her up 
at once.” 

“ I will never give her up, sir! And I am truly glad to 
believe that she is no other than she seems. I adore her as 
she is.” 

1 Well, my boy, no one can attribute your change of sen- 
timent toward her to mercenary motives at least ! Go on 
and prosper ! Woo the girl as soon as you will — wed her 
as soon as she wills. Nothing would please me better ! 

Only I’ll be d d (as I was going to say) if you must 

separate her from me.” 

The delighted young man reassured his uncle upon this 
point. And soon after they left the house to call on Ma- 
dame De Coucy and Astrea. 

The young lady received her guardian with unfeigned de- 
light, and met her lover with something very like a half- 
conscious blush. 

This visit of mere ceremony was necessarily a short one. 
But as Colonel Greville’s intended journey was indefinitely 
postponed, it was soon repeated. 

Fulke Greville was an impatient lover, and took the ear- 
liest opportunity of declaring his passion to its beautiful 
object, and entreating her to become his wife. 

But to his amazement and consternation, he found his 
suit, backed as it was by the influence of her guardian, and 
urged as it was with all the eloquence of youth and love — 
promptly and firmly rejected. 

“No, Colonel Greville, I will not marry any one, least of 
all, you,” she replied, sadly, but firmly. 

“ Least of all me ! Oh, why should I be consigned to a 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 185 

deeper and more hopeless perdition than all others ?” he 
exclaimed, in the bitterness of unmerited despair. 

She did not answer, until he put his question in another 
form — 

“ Why do you make an exception of me, Mademoiselle ?” 

“ Because, Colonel Grevillc, you are the proudest man I 
ever had the honor of meeting, and I — am nobody ! or less 
than nobody ! — an impostor, who has no right to the place 
she fills ; no, nor even to the very name she bears !” 

1 Astrea, dear Astrea, do not talk so wildly. You tax 
me with being proud ! Ah, love, I shall be prouder still 
when I call you mine ! You say that you have no right to 
the place you fill? Do not so wrong our noble-hearted 
guardian as to think that his adopted daughter could pos- 
sibly be considered an intruder into the circle she so much 
adorns. The name to which you also disclaim any right, is 
yours by the most sacred of all patents — that of baptism.” 

11 1 have no family name,” said Astrea, mournfully. 

“Nor do you need one ! I offer you mine ! Oh, Astrea, 
let no fastidious scruple, either of pride or humility, mar our 
happiness !” 

Yain were all his pleadings. Astrea resolutely rejected 
and left him. 

“ The girl is absolutely mad, mad !” exclaimed the cap- 
tain, when the result of this proposal was laid before him — 
“ mad as a March hare ! You love her, she returns your 
love; I give my consent, and she — rejects you! Well I 
suppose it is poetic justice ! You rejected her three years 
ago ; she rejects you now. It was nothing but caprice in 
you ; it is nothing but caprice in her. Never was an un- 
fortunate guardian so tormented with fools as I am ! Well ! 
I suppose you will both condescend to come to your senses 
some time or other, and then come to me for my blessing ! 
And then it will be my time to be capricious. And I’ll be 
dashed, I was going to say, if I don’t forbid the banns !” 

Of course, the old man meant to keep his word, and in 


136 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

proof of such intention he trotted off immediately to 
Madame De Coney’s, asked an interview with his ward, 
and reasoned with her so soundly, and pleaded with her so 
eloquently, and commanded her so peremptorily, that at 
length Astrea was compelled to do what from her heart 
she had wished to do all along, and consent to become the 
w r ife of Fulke Greville. And another interview with her 
lover, the next day, quite settled that matter. 

Captain Fuljoy announced the approaching marriage to 
Monsieur and Madame De Coucy. And the latter begged 
that the marriage might take place from her house, and 
also offered to select Mademoiselle’s trousseau. 

The captain gratefully acceded to these proposals. And 
the preparations for the marriage were commenced. 

It was at eleven o’clock in the forenoon of a lovely spring 
day that the bridal party left the mansion of the French 
minister for St. George’s church, where they were met by 
the bridegroom and his attendants, and where the marriage 
ceremony was performed. The whole company then re- 
turned to the mansion, where Madame de Coucy enter- 
tained them at an elegant breakfast. After which the 
bridegroom and the bride set out for Fuljoy island, where 
they were to pass the honeymoon in retirement, and where 
Captain Fuljoy was expected to join them in the course of 
a few days. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


137 


CHAPTER XVII. 

ETTA BURNS. 

She envies neither great, nor wealthy, 

Poverty she’ll ne’er despise, 

Let her he contented, healthy, 

And the boon she’ll dearly prize : 

So let the world wag as it will, 

She’ll be gay and happy still, 

Gay and happy I gay and happy ! 

She’ll be gay and happy still l— New Smg. 

It was a glorious day — that first of May ! Never had 
the verdant island, the broad river and its wooded banks, 
seemed fresher, gayer, or lovelier. 

The forest trees of the shore and the isle were now 
clothed in the vivid emerald-green foliage of early spring, 
and reflected in water as clear and pure as the brightest 
mirror. 

Within a shaded creek on the southern side of the island, 
a little boat with snow-white sails was moored. It had just 
arrived from Comport, with certain luxuries and elegancies 
for the occasion. And oh ! but everybody in the little sea- 
port town must have known what was going on at Fuljoy’s 
Isle that day. 

Within the mansion-house all was in a high state of 
bustle, getting ready for the reception of the bridal party. 
This was the day after the wedding, and the happy pair 
were expected to arrive in time for a late dinner. Prepara- 
tions were therefore being made upon a great scale ; the 
house had been newly furnished, and decorated in elegant 
style. And the last finishing touches were now being made, 
under the supervision of Miss Mehitable Powers. 

Miss Hit limited her labors to the exertion of moving 
slowly from room to room, sinking heavily into easy-chairs, 
and sighing forth her instructions to the troop of eager, 
excited housemaids that attended her. To Miss Hit, a 


138 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

maiden lady of advanced years, marriages, even under the 
most favorable circumstances, seemed, to use her own words, 
“ scandalous.” She thought that for any young man to 
ask any young woman to marry him, was an extremity of 
impudence only to be equalled by that of the young woman 
in accepting him. And now for her to be required to make 
preparations to receive such a pair ! Truly, her spirit was 
wounded within her. Yet to do this seemed a part of her 
duty as housekeeper, and whatever Miss Hit undertook as 
a duty, no matter how distasteful the task might be to her- 
self, was always conscientiously and thoroughly done. She 
had waddled through the house about nine times that day, 
and was about to commence her tenth and last tour of in- 
spection, when, suddenly, without rapping, Etty Burns 
danced into the hall ! Etty Burns, the black-haired, black- 
eyed, red-cheeked little niece of old Major Patrick Burns, 
of Burns top. 

“ Oh, Miss Hit, I have come to see the rooms before the 
wedding party arrives ! You will show me through them, 
will you not ?” exclaimed the breathless girl. 

“ Bless my life and soul, Etty, ho^y you do startle me ! 
Why how, ever, did you get across ?” 

“ Why, rowed across, of course ; did you suppose I 
swam ?” 

“ You’ll drown yourself, some day ; I say it and I stand 
to it. I wonder at Major Patrick to let you run on as you 
do!” 

“ There, now ! I did’nt run ! I rowed, I tell you ! But, 
now ! show me through the rooms, that’s a dear, good Miss 
Hit.” 

“ Show you through the rooms ! humph ! yes ! and put 
all sorts of thoughts into your head ! humph, well, I sup- 
pose they would come there all the same !” sighed Miss 
Hit. 

“ You may make your affidavit to that !” assented Etty. 

“ Humph, ha ! well, it wasn’t so when I was young !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


189 


“No, for people had no rooms to think about; they 
dwelt in tents in those antediluvian days ! Come away, 
and let’s see the suite.” 

“ Oh, Etty, what a shame your grandmother don’t take 
you home !” 

“ My grandmother is o’er auld to be fashed wi’ the likes 
o’ me.” 

“ Oh, Etty, Etty, how your education has been neglected. 
The likes of you ! But come along, if you must see the 
house, you must, I suppose.” 

They were now standing in the hall, and Miss Hit opened 
the door on the right hand side, and displayed the drawing- 
room, in its splendid new suit of furniture, all blue and 
silver — blue satin damask curtains faced with silver, and 
draped with inner hangings of lace ; blue velvet sofas, and 
ottomans, and easy-chairs ; silver chandeliers to match ; 
and, finally, a Brussels carpet, with blue hare-bells running 
over a silvery-white ground. The room was decorated with 
flowers, wreathed around the chandeliers, festooned over 
the tops of the mirrors, and grouped in vases upon the 
mantel-pieces, and centre and side tables. 

Etty, who had never seen anything better than the plain, 
old-fashioned farm-house furniture at Burnstop, was in rap- 
tures at all this finery, among which she would have loved 
to linger had not Miss Hit opened a communicating door, 
and introduced her into a pretty little morning-room, the 
hangings and furniture of which were maize-colored silk. 

They then crossed the central hall, opened the door on 
the left hand, and entered the dining-room, the walls of 
which were covered with the finest pictures — some were 
originals of celebrated living artists, and others excellent 
copies from the old masters. In the midst of the room 
stood the dinner-table, covered with the snowy damask that 
swooped to the carpet, and decorated with Sevres china, 
Bohemian glass, silver-gilt ornaments, and bouquets of 
flowers. 


140 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

An exclamation of delight burst from Etty — 

“ Oh ! it is a perfect altar of beauty, even now ! And how 
splendid it will be when it is lighted up ! And oh ! what 
a pity to spoil such a beautiful piece of work with common- 
place eating and drinking.” 

“ La, child! it will not be common-place, wholesome eat- 
ing and drinking, I wish it was ! Bless you, the captain 
has sent down a French cook and confectioner, who have 
prepared fancy dishes enough to poison the whole of 
Ahasuerus’ army,” said Miss Hit, leading the way into 
an adjoining music-room, whose furniture and hangings 
were green and gold. 

“ As if there was not green enough on the outside, in all 
conscience,” carped the irritated old lady. 

But Etty was a thorough-going admirer, thinking every 
new apartment that she saw more elegant than any she 
had already seen. 

“ But now, Miss Hit, take me up-stairs and show me 
Astrea’s room. I am dying to see Astrea’s own room,” 
said Etty, eagerly. 

“Astrea’s room! Bless the girl! Why Astrea has a 
long suite of rooms ! Time was when one private apart- 
ment served to accommodate one lady ; but now-a-days no 
less than four seem to be required.” 

“ Four !” 

“ Yes,” said Miss Hit, leading the way up-stairs to the 
great central hall on the second floor, upon which all the 
chambers opened. 

“This is Astrea’s sleeping-room,” she continued, as she 
introduced her visitor into a spacious chamber immediately 
over the drawing-room. 

It was a very bower of beauty. The hangings of the 
windows and of the bed were of white lace over rose-colored 
silk. The paper on the walls and the carpet on the floor 
were of a corresponding pattern — red roses running over a 
white ground. The dressing table was also draped with 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


141 


white lace over rose-colored silk. Rich draperies of lace 
were hung over the glass and festooned back with bunches 
of roses. Upon the table stood an elegant dressing case 
of mother-of-pearl, with all its interior fixtures of Bohemian 
glass and wrought gold. An easy-chair and foot stool of 
rose-colored velvet, draped with tidies of white crotchet- 
work, stood near at hand. The French windows in front 
opened upon an upper balcony, where stood large marble 
vases filled with roses. 

While simple Etty would have lingered in ecstacy among 
the pretty toys of this room, Miss Hit hurried her on to the 
adjoining apartment in the rear, which was Astrea’s dress- 
ing-room, and which was elegantly fitted up with white and 
green enamelled wardrobes, bureaus, tables, and wash- 
stands, and a Sevres china and silver toilet service, and 
thence on into Colonel Greville’s dressing-room, of buff and 
white, and finally into his bed chamber of rosewood furniture 
and purple hangings. These four rooms were all in a line 
running from front to back, and communicating with each 
other by connecting doors. Each room had also a door 
opening upon the central hall, and windows commanding a 
westerly view, through the side of the house. It is neces- 
sary so minutely to describe the locality, that the reader 
may fully understand the events that are to follow. 

“ That is all,” said Miss Hit, as she passed out of Colonel 
Greville’s bedroom into the hall, near the head of the back 
stairs. “And now, Etty, I really must go and dress to be 
ready to receive the wedding party. To be sure, it is early, 
but then there is no certainty about the time of the arrival 
of the boat 1 It may be, any day, two or three hours before 
or after its time!” 

But Etty kept close to Miss Hit ; followed her up into a 
front chamber of the third story, and assisted her in array- 
ing her stout form in a straw-colored silk dress, with three 
deep flounces, that made her look stouter than ever. Then 
Etty walked out upon the upper balcony, and looking 
down the creek, exclaimed, suddenly : 


142 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“The boat is coming, Miss Hit! She is just turning 
Comport Point, and entering the mouth of the creek.” 

“Then she will be here in fifteen minutes,” answered 
Miss Hit, hastily adding a Maltese lace collar and under- 
sleeves to her dress, and then calling to Etty, and hurry- 
ing down stairs to the ground floor, where she was met by all 
the house servants, who, having also seen the boat, were 
hurrying toward her to receive fresh orders. 

“ Seph ! Mandy ! run to that French fellow in the kitchen, 
and tell him that dinner must be on the table in half an 
hour ; so if there is any thing yet to be done to his entre- 
mets of sea-nettles and frogs and other reptiles, he had 
better do it,” said the old lady, as she sailed on to the 
dining-room to give a last look at the table. 

“ Sea-nettles ! Do the French eat sea-nettles, Miss Hit ?” 
inquired Etty, in horror. 

“ Yes, dear, and snails, and frogs, and toadstools, and 
black beetles, for aught I know! And one thing is cer- 
tain: I shall not venture to touch any thing for dinner, 
except an honest joint that I can see all about, for fear of 
being poisoned. I am sure, I don’t wonder at revolutions 
and reigns of terror, when we think of what they live on !” 

“ Miss Hit, I don’t envy your dinner party ! but I will 
just go down and hide myself in the shrubberies until I see 
the bride land, and then I will slip away home. Good-by.” 

“ Good-by, dear ! I have no doubt we shall have you 
and the major over to dinner some day soon ; but you see, 
for the first week or two, the young couple wish to be 
quiet.” 

“ Yes ! I hope they will send away the French cook 
before they invite us, however,” said Etty, dancing away. 

She went down to the south extremity of the island, 
where, hidden among a group of rose-bushes, she watched 
the Busy Bee as it steamed toward the landing-place on 
the island. It came on very swiftly, and at length stopped 
at the mouth of the small creek immediately below her 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


143 


post of observation. Here, while the boat was blowing off 
her steam, the bridal party landed, attended only by a man 
servant and a lady’s maid. 

The bridegroom and the bride advanced up the shaded 
avenue, followed by their attendants bringing travelling 
bags and dressing cases. 

The stately bridegroom, in the uniform of his regiment, 
walked on, supporting the steps of his bride, and trying to 
conceal, under a grave and dignified exterior, the real 
pride and joy of his heart, that would nevertheless betray 
itself in the expression of his frank and noble eonntenance. 

The lovely bride wore a travelling dress, mantle, and 
bonnet, all of silver gray silk of the same shade, with 
gloves, parasol, and bonnet strings of delicate mauve. In 
the retirement of this shaded walk, her light lace veil was 
thrown aside, and all the beauty of her downcast eyes-and 
blushing cheeks revealed, as she supposed, only to the 
trees and flowers. 

“ Oh ! what a glorious gift to woman is beauty ! It gains 
for her every thing else she needs to make her life happy. 
Ah 1 I would be willing to die young, if only while I live 
I could be as lovely and as beloved as she is I” said Etty 
to herself, as she peeped through the rose-bushes at the 
beautiful young bride. 

But she who spoke possessed in her soul of fire a more 
potent spell over minds and hearts than ever was wielded 
by mere beauty. 

Etty waited until the bridal pair had passed out of sight, 
and then glided through the bushes to the sands where 
she had left her little row-boat, unmoored, got into it, and 
rowed away from the island. 

And while Etty’s little skiff glided across the placid 
waters, and the Busy Bee steamed its way up the creek, 
the bridal party reached the mansion-house. 


144 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER XYIII. 

BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM. 

Gentle lovers shall ye be, 

Sitting by each other’s side, 

She giving her whole soul to thee 

Without a thought or wish of pride, 

For she is now thy cherished bride. — Lowell. 

They were received upon the front porch by Miss Hit, 
all flounces, flaxen curls, and smiles. 

“ You are welcome home to Fuljoy’s isle, Colonel Gre- 
ville. Mrs. Greville, you are welcome. I wish you both 
much joy in your future lives,” she said, shaking hands in 
turn with the bride and bridegroom. “ Your luggage is al- 
ready carried up to your apartments. Would you like to 
be shown thither before dinner?” she added. 

“ If you please Miss Hit. And remember that to you I 
am always little Daney,” said the bride. 

Miss Hit had already sent the lady’s maid up-stairs, 
under the charge of Mandy. And now the old lady led 
the way thither, and opening the door, introduced the 
bride into her elegant chamber. 

An exclamation of pleasure broke from Astrea’s lips as 
she threw herself into her easy chair before her dressing 
table, and gazed around upon the pretty room with its 
hangings of rose-colored silk and fine lace. 

“ Oh, how r good is my dear guardian, and how perfect is 
his taste,” she said. 

“ Bless you, child ! it was not the captain’s taste. He 
sent down an upholsterer, with a carte blanche ; the man 
knew his business, and you see the result. But the captain 
has taste ; there is no denying that. And now, ma’am, I 
will leave you to change your dress, while I go and have 
the dinner served,” said Miss Hit, leaving the room. 

Mademoiselle Fifine, Mrs. Greville’s French maid, was 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


145 


in the adjoining dressing-room, engaged in unpacking 
trunks and boxes, and putting away their contents in 
bureaus and wardrobes ; but summoned now by her mis- 
tress, she came in and attended her at her toilet. 

The young bride’s evening dress was very simple and 
elegant, consisting of a fine white tulle, whose ample folds 
floated around her fairy form like clouds of gossamer. A 
necklace of pearls reposed upon her snowy bosom ; brace- 
lets of pearls encircled her fair arms, and a coronet of 
pearls gathered the rich tresses of her hair at the back of 
her head, where they fell a cataract of golden ringlets. 
'When her toilet was complete, even to the delicate white 
gloves and the white cobweb of a handkerchief, she stepped 
through the French windows of her chamber out upon the 
piazza, to look once more upon the lovely home of her 
childhood. The aspect w*as a Southern one. 

Before her lay the slope of the island, reposing in sun- 
shine and in shade, and studded over with trees and 
bushes and flowers, and descending to the water side then 
the broad water reflecting clearly, as the brightest mirror, 
the wooded hills beyond and the evening sky above. East 
— sky and water and wooded hills wore the sober gray hue 
of approaching night, lighted purely by the silvery moon ; 
west — they shone in the gorgeous livery of the setting sun, 
in purple crimson and gold. The exceeding beauty, glory, 
and sublimity of the scene, almost suspended in ecstacy 
the breath of the beholder. While Astrea gazed, entranced, 
she heard a light step beside her, felt a soft hand upon her, 
and turned to see her husband by her side. There they 
stood, 

“ Gazing — the one on all that was beneath — 

Fair as herself — but the boy gazed on her — ” 

until the scene slowly changed under the fading sky, and the 
last crimson tint of the retiring sun had died away, leaving 
the moon to reign alone in the cold, gray heavens. 

Then they went down to the dining-room, where, bride 

9 


146 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


and bridegroom though they were, they did full justice to 
the luxurious feast spread before them. How passed their 
evening? In music, conversation, and moonlight walks 
upon the terrace. Then, weary with their journey from 
the city to the isle, they retired to their apartments. And 
not until then did the tired household seek repose. 

Miss Hit waddled around in her last tour over the estab- 
lishment to see that the doors and windows were closed, and 
all the lights and fires put out. And then, attended by her 
two maids, Mandy and Sephy, she entered her own room on 
the third floor front, where she sank panting into an easy 
chair. 

These two girls always slept in the garret above Miss 
Hit’s room ; but it was the custom, growing out of her soli- 
tude, of the old lady to detain them a few minutes every 
night in her own chamber, for a little gossip or last orders, 
before dismissing them to their own. You may be sure 
that this evening proved no exception to the general rule. 
There' was much to be talked over. And as Miss Hit sat 
blowing in her chair, Mandy offered to comb her hair and 
Sephy to take off her shoes and stockings, before leaving 
her. And while the maids were thus engaged, Miss Hit 
spoke — of the bridal pair, of course. For let it be remem- 
bered that this was the first time for three years that the 
household of the isle had set eyes on either the lady or the 
gentleman. 

“ She’s wonderfully improved — Miss Astrea — Mrs. Gre- 
ville, I should say,” said Miss Hit. 

“ I ’clar’ I shouldn’ a-known her, mum,” answered Mandy. 

“ No, nor Marse Fulke— the Colonel, I mean. Isn’t he 
handsome, just ?” observed Sephy. 

“ I hope it will be a happy marriage,” sighed Miss Hit. 

“ And so does I, mum ; but I has my own thoughts,” said 
Mandy. 

“ La ! why shouldn’t it be happy ? Just see what a hand- 
some pair they are !” observed Sephy. 


THE FORTtTKE SEEKER. 


147 


But Miss Hit liad turned an appalled countenance upon 
Mandy, as if silently demanding a reason for her expressed 
forebodings. 

Mandy was a well-formed, tall, slender girl, with a good- 
humored black face, laughing black eyes, and smiling lips 
that displayed rows of teeth white and smooth as ivory. 
There was a. great deal of wit, intelligence, and affection in 
Mandy’s nature. And her truth, honest}^, and fidelity won 
the regard of the whole family. It was therefore with much 
confidence that Miss Hit listened to her explanation. 

“ You see, Miss ’Hitable, mum, I never said nuffin Tall 
to nobody ’bout what I’m going to tell you now. You 
’member de last ebening as eber Marse Fulk was here, 
afore he went away so suddint ?” 

“ Yes I do. And I knew at the time there was some 
quarrel between him and his uncle, though nothing was 
ever said about it afterward.” 

“ Well, mum, it was a quarrel, and all about little Daney, 
Miss Astrea, I mean, Mrs. Greville, as I should say. You 
see, mum, dat dat ebenin’ I was busy taking de candle 
grease spots out’n de carpet in de hall nigh to de dinin’ 
room, when I heard all they said, which I neber mentioned 
of it afore, and wouldn’t mention it now only for my mis- 
givings.” 

“ What was it V r 

“ Well, you see, ole marse, he wanted young marse to 
marry Miss Daney. She was Miss Daney then, so I might 
as well call her so. Well, he — young marse I mean — 
wouldn't. And ole marse coaxed him, and he wouldn’t. 
And he scolded him, and he wouldn’t. Then he threatened 
him, and he wouldn’t. Last of all he turned him off and 
ordered him out of the house, but told him as he was 
a-going, that if ever he changed his mind, and come to his 
senses, and returned to marry Miss Daney, he would for- 
give him and love him and leave him his fortune. And so 
they parted. Only mind this, Miss Hit, mum. As young 


148 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


marse was a passing through the front hall on his way out, 
and not seeing of me down on de floor takin’ out de grease 
spots, he say, says he, a-talking to hisself, ‘ If I were weak 
enough to be tempted to marry that girl for fortune , I 
should be wicked enough, afterward, to murder her for 

FREEDOM !’ ” 

“ Hush ! for heaven’s sake, hush ! You make my very 
blood run cold with horror ! Beside, it cannot be true ! 
You mistook!” 

“ ’Deed and ’deed, mum, dem was the very words he 
used ! I ’members of ’em as if it was dis minute I heerd 
’em, for it seem like ebery word was cut into me, I was so 
hurted! And oh! Miss Hit! to think at last as he has 
been tempted to marry of her for fortune ! now sup- 
posing ” 

“ Ugh ! stop supposing, you foolish, wicked girl! There! 
give me my nightcap, and go to bed. Say your prayers 
before you lie down, and then, perhaps, the evil spirits that 
put such horrid thoughts in your head will depart from 
you,” said Miss Hit. 

Sephy, who was a bright mulatto, a few years older, a 
good deal stouter, and much more regularly handsome, 
without being near so pleasing as her sister Mandy, now 
took up the word, saying — 

“T haven’t got nullin’ ’tall agin ’em, but der making of a 
bridge of my nose, by going and taking up a triflin’ French 
gal ’stead o’ me, for a lady’s maid, which it’s well known I 
was alius ’tended by ole marse for to be own maid to young 
missus ! And then Marse Fulke to go and take that sojerin’ 
fellow to wait on he, ’stead o’ Brudder Bill as alius ’tended 
to him, ebber since he war a boy ! Tell you all what, no 
good will ebber come o’ sich /” 

“ Hold your tongue, Sephy ! How dare you talk so of your 
young mistress and master ? Go to bed, directly, both of 
you, and pray for a better spirit. And mind, be up by 
seven o’clock in the morning to help the cook. There’s 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 149 

batter to be made for the waffles — Maryland waffles, mind 
you, and not French ones — to be made of rich milk and 
eggs and flour, and not gas and fluff and vapor — so do it 
yourself, and don’t leave it to Monsieur le Ch£f,” said 
Miss Hit. 

The girls looked at each other and giggled, as they often 
did, when scolded by the big, fat, good-natured house- 
keeper, and then, with a curtsy each, they withdrew to 
their attic. 

“ I don’t know what is hanging over me to-night ; I feel 
very low, somehow ; quite as if something was about to 
happen ; it is an awful experience : it must be a presenti- 
ment of evil, or else, perhaps, it is only — indigestion!” 
sighed the old lady, as she turned into her comfortable bed. 

But she could not compose herself to sleep. With a 
nervous irritability unusual to one of her phlegmatic tem- 
perament, she lay awake, starting at every slight sound — • 
and fancying that she heard stealthy footsteps in the porch 
beneath her windows and before the apartment of Mrs. Gre- 
ville. Thus it was near daylight when at length, worn out 
■with watching, she fell asleep. 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE LOST BRIDE. 

You yet may spy the fawn at play. 

The hare upon the green ; 

But the sweet face of Lucy Gray 
Will never more be seen. — Wordsworth. 


The household was astir very early the next morning. 
The spacious breakfast parlor was situated on the first floor, 
in the angle of the house, and had two French windows 
opening east and two opening south, to let in the light of 


150 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

the rising sun, the beauty of the landscape, the fragrance 
of the flowers, and the songs of the birds. The floor was 
covered with straw matting, the windows draped with white 
muslin, and the breakfast table spread with snow-white 
damask, laden with white Sevres china, and adorned with 
a bouquet of lilies. Every thing about the room was cool, 
airy, elegant, and inviting. 

Miss Hit, entering the apartment, expressed herself 
satisfied with the arrangement. But as the first freshness 
of the morning passed away, the sun went round toward 
the south windows, the dew exhaled from the flowers, and 
the songs of the birds were hushed, and still the young 
couple did not make their appearance, Miss Hit grew im- 
patient. 

“ The breakfast will not be fit to eat, that is all !” said 
the old lady, in an irritated tone of voice, as she walked 
up and down the hall, for a half hour longer. 

At length, calling to a passing servant, she said, im- 
patiently : 

“ Mandy ! just step up-stairs and notice if you see a 
door open, or any signs of life up there !” 

Mandy tripped softly up the stairs, and soon returned, 
saying : 

“ Colonel Greville is in his dressing-room, and the door 
is wide open, and he must be nearly ready to come down, 
for he is just brushing of his hair, and his soldier-servant 
is holding of his coat, ready for him to put it on ; and 
young missus’s door is ajar; but I don’t hear her stir- 
ring.” 

“ Then tell that Ma’amselle Fifine to carry up hot water 
to her room,” said Miss Hit. 

Mandy went down to the servant’s sitting-room w r ith this 
order ; but “ Ma’amselle” declared that she dared not in- 
trude into her mistress’s chamber until she heard her bell 
ring, that it was against all rule. And Mandy came back 
with the reply to Miss Hit. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 151 

“ She is a French fool ! and that is the worst of all fools ! 
Take the water up yourself, Handy,” said the old lady. 

Mandy obeyed the order, and was soon seen passing 
softly up the stairs with a large silver pitcher in her hands. 
But in less than two minutes afterward a succession of ear- 
splitting shrieks were heard, and Mandy rushed down the 
stairs, every feature of her face distorted with horror. 

“What is the matter? What on earth ails the girl?” 
exclaimed Miss Hit. 

But instead of answering, Mandy seized the old lady 
round the waist, hid her face for a moment against her fat 
bosom, and uttered shriek after shriek ! 

“Are you frantic, girl? Stop screaming, for goodness 
sake, and say plainly what ails you ?” 

But Mandy’s shrieks were only changed for hysterical 
gasps, and she replied not a word. 

“ Have you broken any thing costly? If so, tell me at 
once. You’ll not be hung for it you know, anyhow !” 

But the girl was really quite incapable of answering, and 
with a few more choking gasps she sank upon the floor. 

“ Go up-stairs and see what has occurred. And you, 
Mandy, come out of this in one minute. You know I won’t 
allow hysterics !” said Miss Hit, angrily. 

In obedience to the housekeeper’s command, and in cu- 
riosity to see what costly vase or looking-glass was shivered, 
Sephy flew up-stairs, but presently rushed screaming down 
again, and fled through the open hall door out of the house ! 

“ They are both gone frantic together,” cried Miss Hit, 
in consternation ; then, seeing the French maid, who had 
been drawn thither by the piercing screams, standing in the 
hall, she added : 

“ Ma’amselle Fifine, if that is your name, Colonel Greville 
has been in his dressing-room for the last hour. Go at 
once to your lady’s chamber, and see w'hat has happened 
there.” 

The French maid cither did not dare to disobey this per- 


152 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

emptory command, or else she might have been moved by 
curiosity to know the cause of the outcry, or both motives 
might have actuated her at once, for at any rate she also 
hastened up the stairs ; but soon rushed down, her face 
blanched with horror ! 

“Now, Ma’amselle, no screams nor hysterics, if you 
please. I won’t have them ! Tell me at once — is it the 
Venetian mirror or the Etruscan vase ?” 

“ Madame il est mort /” screamed the girl. 

“What?” echoed Miss Hit, in affright. 

“It is death ! it is m-u-r-d-e-r /” answered the French- 
woman, throwing up her arms and prolonging the last word 
to a perfect howl of terror. 

And at the same instant, also, Mandy found her voice, 
and began to shriek : 

“ Oh, my missus ! my poor young missus ! As ebber I 
should lib to see de day. My poor murdered young missus 1” 

But no one attended to her. With one impulse of horror 
and affright all rushed up the stairs and into the bridal 
chamber! * 

And there, in that fatal room, a scene met their eyes that 
baffles all description — a scene calculated to turn each 
gazer into stone ! Yes, the chamber bore the dreadful signs 
of murder, and of that awful struggle for life that must 
have preceded the murder. The bed had not been occu- 
pied. It was undisturbed, neat and smooth as when its 
draperies had received the finishing touches of Mandy’s 
neat fingers. But every other piece of furniture bore the 
marks of a violent contest, as though the victim, flying 
through that circumscribed space for dear life, had caught 
at each article in turn to make it a shield or a weapon. 
Every thing was torn, defaced, and blood-stained ! The 
dressing table had been wrenched from its place, and its 
lace valance, half dragged off, bore the marks of gory fin- 
gers. The easy chair had been thrown down, and on its 
white cover glowed the prints of crimson hands. The lace 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


153 


curtains of one window were stripped off, and its folds 
partly glued together where they had been clasped by 
bloody fingers. And so with every other article in the 
room. 

“ Oh, Heaven of mercies ! what is the meaning of all this ? 
Where is Astrea? Where is Colonel Greville?” cried Miss 
Hit, in wild affright, as she hurried to the open window 
from which hung the rent and spotted curtain. This win- 
dow opened upon the upper porch, from which steps led 
down to the shrubberies. Miss Hit, followed by all the 
domestics, hastily passed through it, and looked in turns 
around, half fearing to discover the murdered body of the 
victim bride. She found the window sill, the floor of the 
porch, and the steps leading down to the shrubberies, all 
thickly spotted with blood ! The shrubberies themselves, 
were beaten and trampled down, and a furrow ran through 
them from the foot of the stairs toward the water’s edge, as 
though some inanimate bod}^ had been dragged, along ! and 
oh ! worse than all, hanging on the thorn bushes on each 
side, were shreds of muslin, as if torn, in passing, from 
some woman’s dress. Fearing to pursue this furrow any 
further, lest her eyes should be blasted by some sight of 
even greater horror, the appalled woman hurried, as fast as 
age and fat would permit her, up the porch stairs again, 
calling wildly on the name of Astrea, and calling in vain. 
On reaching the chamber, she rushed through all its signs 
of crime, to the back door connecting it with the lady’s 
dressing-room ; but this she found was fastened on the same 
side ; this scarcely surprised her at the time, she so quickly 
unlocked it and passed through, hurrying on toward the 
gentleman’s dressing-room, whose door was also fastened 
on this side. Quickly shooting back the bolt, she rushed 
into the presence of Colonel Greville, who was quietly in 
the act of receiving his fresh pocket-handkerchief from the 
hands of his valet. He turned in some surprise to meet the 
horror-stricken countenance of the old lady, exclaiming: 


154 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ What is the matter, Miss Hit ? Are any of the maids 
in hysterics ?” 

“ Oh, Colonel Greville ! Oh, Fulke ! Where is Astrea V' 
gasped Miss Hit. 

“Astrea! my wife! what about Astrea!” exclaimed 
Colonel Greville, in sudden alarm, striding toward the com- 
municating door of their apartments. 

“ Stop, Fulke Greville ! she is not there ! as you must 
know too well ! I ask you where she is ? Cain ! where is 
thy sister ? Murderer ! where is thy victim ?” 

“ Miss Hit ! 1 murderer V Are you mad ? or what is the 
meaning of all this ?” cried the Colonel, sweeping her from 
his path and striding through all the suite of rooms until 
he stood, the centre of a group of affrighted servants, in 
the midst of the defaced and blood-stained chamber. 

“In the name of Heaven what is all this? My wife! 
where is my wife ?” exclaimed the shocked and terrified 
husband, as with a face white as one of death, he gazed 
around upon the bloody tokens of guilt ! 

“ Where ? we ask you where, murderer ! hypocrite ! mon- 
ster ! that you are ! where have you hidden her dead body ?” 
shrieked Miss Hit, frantic with rage, grief, and despair. 

But without heeding her wild appeal, the frenzied man 
rushed past the group of panic-stricken servants and through 
the ragged and gory window out upon the porch, where the 
trail of blood met his appalled gaze ! Following this, he 
rushed down the steps and through the beaten shrubberies, 
and along the leafy furrow, toward the water’s edge. 

Meanwhile Miss Hit, though plunged in the deepest de- 
spair, recovered self-control sufficient to take upon her self 
the direction of affairs and to give her orders with sufficient 
clearness. 

“ He ought not to be suffered to leave the island. John, 
do you hurry down to the beach, take the boat, and go 
across the water to Burnstop. Major Burns is a justice of 
the peace ; tell him what has happened here, and ask him to 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 155 

come over immediately, and bring as many constables as lie 
may think necessary ! Hurry.” 

J okn flew to do her bidding. And then she turned to 
another man servant — 

“ James, call the coachman and the gardener, and take 
them with you and make a thorough search for the body 
through the island. Hasten !” 

James rushed out to execute these orders. 

“ Mandy, you must remain in this room with me, for I 
shall stay here to watch that nothing is changed until the 
magistrate arrives.” 

Mandy immediately left the group of awe-stricken ser- 
vants and went and stood behind the chair of her mistress. 

“ And now, Monsieur,” she said, addressing the French 
cook, “you will please to take all these people away with 
you and keep them in order, until the arrival of the ma- 
gistrate.” 

The Frenchman testified his obedience by a succession 
of bows, and beckoned his attendants to follow him from 
the room. 

When Miss Hit was left alone with Mandy in the fatal 
chamber, she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, 
as if to shut out the scene of blood around her. 

Monsieur le Chef had no trouble in keeping the servants 
in order ; they crept down to the lower regions of the house, 
where they remained in panic-stricken silence, or spoke to 
each other only in terrified whispers. 

The coachman and the gardener, with their assistants, 
were beating the bushes in every direction, searching for 
the body of the murdered bride, or some indication of its 
fate. Colonel Greville, in an agony of grief, was flying 
about the island on the same quest. 

Things were in this- condition when Major Burns, ac- 
companied by a brother magistrate, who happened to be 
staying at his house, and also by a pair of county consta- 
bles, arrived upon the scene of action. 


156 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Colonel Greville rushed to meet them. 

“ What is all this, Greville, they tell me ? It cannot be 
true !” said Major Burns, a little, red-faced, gray-haired, fiery 
Irishman. 

“ It is true 1” cried the Colonel, with a groan of anguish. 

“ But surely you don’t mean, really that — that — ” gasped 
the little magistrate, in consternation. 

“ She — my bride ! my wife 1 has been murdered ! assassi- 
nated 1 in her room !” exclaimed Colonel Greville, wildly. 

“ Great Lord of Heaven ! by whom ?” 

“ We do not know ! Would to Heaven we did !” 

“ Where is her body ? Show it to us ! And Mix ! run 
and fetch the coroner at once !” exclaimed the magistrate, 
addressing first the bereaved husband, and then one of the 
attendant constables. 

The man started in a run upon his errand, but was imme- 
diately recalled by a distracting gesture from Colonel Gre- 
ville, who said in a despairing voice — 

“ It is useless 1 quitefuseless ! her body has been carried 
off, and concealed or destroyed.” 

“ Great Heaven 1 when was this done ?” 

“ Last night 1” 

“ Last night ? And where were you at that hour , sir ?” 

Colonel Greville started at the question. The voice that 
put it was a strange one. He looked up at the questioner. 
He was a stranger — being a tall, well-proportioned young 
man, with good features, fair complexion, yellow hair, and 
blue eyes. 

“ Oh ! — this is my brother-magistrate — rather a young 
man for the office — but an efficient one, for all that ! I 
should have introduced him before, but really the shock of 
this affair drove every thing else out of my mind ! Mr. 
Erlingford — Colonel Greville,” said the major. 

Mr. Erlingford very slightly lifted his hat, keeping his 
eyes steadily and almost insultingly fixed upon the face of 
his new acquaintance. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 157 

Colonel Greville bowed. He had no hat to lift ; he had 
rushed wildly from the house without one. 

“ You say that the body has not been found ? How can 
you be so sure, then, that a murder has been committed at 
all,” queried the little major. 

Colonel Greville started again ! An expression of sud- 
den hope flashed from his face for an instant, and then 
faded away again as he groaned forth the answer — 

“ Oh, sir I the evidences of the crime are but too conclu- 
sive !” 

“ I would ask, sir, where you , the natural protector of 
your bride, were, last night, while this crime was being per- 
petrated ?” meaningly inquired Mr. Erlingford. 

For an instant the instinct of habitual pride caused 
Colonel Greville to lift his eyes in haughty astonishment at 
the insolence of this demand ; but in the next, the rushing 
consciousness of his awful bereavement overwhelmed this 
feeling, and again he groaned in answering : 

“I must have been in my own apartment, not in hers; 
I would to Heaven I had been !” 

A smile of derisive incredulity passed over the younger 
magistrate’s face as he said : 

“Rather an incredible story, under the circumstances, 
sir.” 

Again the fire of pride flashed up for a moment from 
Fulke Greville’s soul, but again it was quenched in his great 
sorrow. 

“ Come ! let us hurry on to the house ! Perhaps after all 
there has been no murder done, and it is all a false alarm !” 
spoke the little major, hopefully. 

They walked on up the broad, elm-shaded avenue to the 
house, and proceeded at once to the fatal bridal chamber. 


158 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE BLOODY HAND. 

The sky was pale ; the cloud a thing of doubt : 

Some hues were fresh and some decayed or duller ! 

But still the bloody hand shone strangely out 
With vehemence of color I 

The bloody hand, that with a lurid stain 
Shone on the dusty floor a dismal token, 

Projected from the casement’s painted pane, 

Where all beside was broken 1 

The bloody hand, significant of crime. 

That glaring on the old heraldic banner, 

Had kept its crimson, unimpaired by time, 

In such a wondrous manner! — Hood. 

Here all paused in the centre of the room, and looked 
around. A feeling of deadly faintness came over the 
strongest man present. Had the body of the victim only 
been missing, there had been no proof of crime. But there 
was no mistaking the awful language of those bloody 
tokens ! Murder had been done ! And there had but too 
evidently been a violent and protracted struggle between 
the victim and the assassin ! The overturned chairs, the 
dressing table wrenched from its place, the white draperies 
of the room rent away by the clutch of crimson fingers, the 
blood-sprinkled walls, the blood-stained floor, all cried aloud 
\o earth and heaven of the desperate struggle for life that 
had preceded the violent death. 

The magistrate stood dumb with horror and amazement 
for some minutes. Mr. Erlingford was the first to break 
the spell. 

“Here has been no silent assassination. She was not 
murdered in her sleep, or even in her bed ! You all per- 
ceive that that has not been disturbed ! She was evidently 
first struck while sitting in that easy chair, previous to 
retiring ! She must have been struck from behind, and in 
starting violently up, overturned her chair ! And observe 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 159 

how we can track her steps by her blood, as she fled for 
life from the chair to that door, from the door to the 
dressing table, from the dressing table to the window ! See 
the prints of her small fingers on the curtains as she 
grasped them ! Oh ! here must have been a fearful strug- 
gle before life was yielded ! — here must have been heavy 
falls and piercing shrieks that were heard all over the 
house. Did no one hear them?” inquired the young 
magistrate, in conclusion. 

“ No, sir, I did not,” simultaneously answered each one 
that was present. 

“Miss Powers, did you hear no disturbance in the night?” 

“None, but a very slight noise in front of the house 
below my windows, which might have been made by a cat 
passing.” 

“ Yet, judging by these signs, the conflict must have been 
loud and alarming! Where do you sleep, Miss Powers?” 

“ In the room above this.” 

“Do you sleep soundly ?” 

“ I usually do ; but last night I was nervous and wake- 
ful, or I should not have heard the slight sound that I did. 
I am sure if there had beeri*such a struggle as you speak 
of, I should have heard it, for I did not get to sleep until 
nearly sunrise.” 

“ Does any one sleep in the rooms below these ?” 

“No, sir; they are the drawing-rooms.” 

“ Who sleeps on this floor ?” 

“No one but Colonel Greville and his wife, that was!” 
answered Miss Hit, with a burst of weeping, for her nerves 
had been quite overtasked. 

“And you tell us, sir,” said the magistrate, turning and 
addressing himself to the colonel, “ that you did not pass 
the night in your wife’s chamber last night ?” 

“ I did not,” moaned Fulke Greville. 

“ Will you tell us where you did pass it ?” significantly 
inquired Erlingford. 


160 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ In my own dressing-room.” 

“Humph! But, passing over, for the present, the sin- 
gularity of the circumstance of your doing so, allow me 
to ask — does your dressing-room communicate with this 
chamber?” 

“ Certainly, though there is one intervening apartment — 
my wife’s dressing-room; but all communicate by doors, 
my chamber being the back one of the suite .” 

“And you say that, with but one room intervening be- 
tween you? you heard no unusual noise in the night ?” 

“ Hot the slightest.” 

“ Humph ! Look around upon these signs of struggle 
and violence, and tell me if you think such a desperate 
conflict could have gone on without your hearing it — with- 
out every one in the house being aroused by it?” 

" Ho, certainly, not ! The noise that must have attended 
such a struggle must have been loud enough to have aroused 
the heaviest sleeper in the remotest part of the building.” 

“ Then how do you account for the fact that neither 
yourself, who was removed but one room off, nor any 
other person in the house seems to have heard any unusual 
sound ?” 

“ I cannot account in any manner for any thing that has 
occurred in this fatal event,” replied the colonel, in despair. 

“ Let Mrs. Greville’s maid be called up,” said Mr. Erling- 
ford. 

A messenger immediately started in search of her. But 
here the elder magistrate spoke up : 

“It seems to me, Erlingford, that we are proceeding 
very irregularly in the investigation of this affair. There 
has been a most heinous and atrocious murder perpetra- 
ted, and we are proceeding to examine the servants of the 
house, by taking their mere statements unsupported by 
oath. This should not be.” 

“ I beg your pardon, sir : you have had more experience 
upon the bench than myself. Pray take the direction of 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


161 


this investigation, and conduct it as you see fit. I will 
give you all the assistance in my power,” replied Erling- 
ford. 

Major Burns picked up the overturned easy chair, drew 
it to a writing-table and seated himself, saying to one of 
the constables: 

“ Mix, you can play the clerk upon this occasion. Take 
pen and ink and make notes of the present condition of 
this chamber and its furniture.” 

Mix seated himself, pen in hand, and began carefully to 
glance around and rapidly to take notes. 

The magistrate, turning to the other constable, said : 

“ Hudson, clear this room of every individual except my 
assistants and Colonel Greville. Then assemble all the 
household in the next room, from whence I can send for 
each witness as I may want him or her. Let no one leave 
the house upon any pretence whatever.” 


CHAPTER XXI. 

THE INVESTIGATION. 

Hear thou and hope not— if by word, or deed. 

Yea, by invisible thought, unuttered wish, 

Thou hast been ministrant to this horrid act, 

With full collected force of malediction, 

I do pronounce upon thy soul— despair ! — Maturin. 

Hudson immediately obeyed the command of Major 
Burns, as given at the close of the last chapter The 
room was cleared of all persons with the exception of the 
two magistrates, who were seated at the table, Mix the 
clerk, who was busy writing, Hudson the constable, who 
kept the door leading into the adjoining room where the 
household were assembled, and Colonel Greville, who was 
10 


162 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


walking distractedly up and down the floor. The exam-* 
ination proceeded. 

“We will hear Colonel Greville’s evidence first,” said the 
presiding magistrate. 

The elegant little Bible, the bridal present that lay upon 
the disfigured dressing table, was brought forward for the 
purpose, and the oath administered to Colonel Greville. 

Mix, who had got through taking notes of the condition 
of the room, prepared now to take down the evidence in 
writing. 

“ Colonel Greville, will you tell us at what hour you last 
saw your wife alive ?” inquired the magistrate. 

“At about half-past ten o’clock last night.” 

“Where and under what circumstances ?” 

“ In the drawing-room of this house ; we had passed the 
evening together, and at about ten o’clock we had a glass 
of wine and some fruit. Her maid soon after' appeared 
with a taper, and she arose and retired. That was the last 
time I saw her in life.” 

“ Did you part amicably?” 

“ Most amicably, of course ; but it was no parting ; as I 
expected to follow her, and did follow her in a very few 
minutes.” 

“ And yet you say that you passed the night in your own 
dressing-room. Have you any objection to explain that 
circumstance?” 

“ None at all, so far as I understand it myself. My wife 
had been gone, as I said, but a few minutes, when my own 
servant appeared and said ‘your apartments are ready, 
sir.’ I went to my dressing-room, dismissed my servant, 
and threw myself for a moment into my arm-chair. Gen- 
tlemen !” said the colonel, looking solemnly from one to the 
other — “ I am on my oath, were it not for that, I should 
think it necessary to assure you by my honor as an officer 
and a gentleman, that the extraordinary circumstance I 
am about to state is strictly and literally true ! — that from 




THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


163 


the moment I threw myself into my arm-chair, a profound 
sleep overcame my senses, and I knew no more until I 
awoke very late this morning and found myself still seated 
in the same chair !” 

The magistrates looked at each other and at the witness 
— Major Burns’ honest countenance expressing unmeasured 
astonishment, Mr. Erlingford’s exhibiting scornful incre- 
dulity. 

“ You can retire, if you please,” said the latter. 

Colonel Greville bowed and left the room. 

“Now call the maid who attended upon Mrs. Greville,” 
said Major Burns. 

The constable who kept the door opened it and sum- 
moned the woman, who entered the room weeping. 

The oath was administered. 

“ Your name, I believe, is Fifine ” 

“Josephine, Monsieur* Josephine Laporte,” interrupted 
the Frenchwoman. 

“You were the attendant of the deceased ?” 

“Yes, Monsieur, I was so unfortunate.” 

“ When did you see Mrs. Greville last, alive ?” 

“ A little after half-past ten o’clock, Monsieur.” 

“ Where did you see her ?” 

“ I attended madame at that hour to her bedchamber. 
I assisted her to undress and put on a wrapper. Then she 
sat down in the easy chair — the same one Monsieur le ma- 
gistrate occupies now. And she took a little Bible in her 
hands — the same that Monsieur le notaire holds now — to 
read a chapter, as was always her custom, before saying 
her evening prayers. Then she said — ‘ You may retire, 
Fifine, and I will ring, as usual, when I require you in the 
morning.’ I curtsyed and went out, and that was the last 
I ever saw of madame alive.” 

“ After retiring, did you hear any unusual sound in the 
night ?” 

“No, Monsieur.” 


164 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Where do you sleep ?” 

“ Quite at the top of the house. In the attic over the , 
room of Madame Hit.” 

“You were among the first that discovered the murder, 

I believe ?” 

“Yes, Monsieur, I was. This morning Madame Hit told 
me that Madame Greville’s chamber door was open, and 
that Monsieur le colonel was in his dressing-room, and she 
directed me to take up hot water to madame. I obeyed, 
and discovered the room in its present state of violent dis- 
order. And then I gave the alarm, and that is all I know 
of this affair tragique.” 

“ Do you happen to know whether there was any ill feeling 
between Colonel Greville and his wife?” 

“ No, Monsieur, I do not.” 

The Frenchwoman was then permitted to retire, and Miss 
Mehitable Powers called up for examination. 

She came in with her huge form shaking with emotion^ 
and her big face red and swollen with weeping. Yet she 
strove for self-possession, and attained composure while 
giving in her evidence. Her testimony merely corrobo- 
rated that of others, in the particulars relating to the hour 
at which the bride had retired to her chamber in her usual 
good health, and the hour at which the murder was first 
discovered in the morning. When this part of her testi- 
mony had been taken down, the magistrate inquired : 

“Are you aware of any misunderstanding that might 
have existed between Colonel Greville and his deceased 
bride ?” 

Here Miss Hit’s composure was utterly overthrown. 
She burst into a passion of tears, and, amid choking sobs, 
exclaimed : 

“ I had rather bite my tongue off than answer that ques- 
tion! I had ! I had! but justice must be done, if the 
heavens fall ! Yes, gentlemen ! yes ! there was ill-feeling 
between them ! at least, I mean, on his part and toward her. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 165 

For, as to her, poor child ! she just worshipped the ground 
he trod on ! and she always did, ever since I knew them 
both ! But the more she loved him, gentlemen, the more 
he hated her. 

At this strange statement, which no doubt Miss Hit 
believed to be strictly true, the younger magistrate pricked 
up his ears, while the elder one inquired : 

“ What reason have you for believing that Colonel Gfe- 
ville hated his young bride ? Can a man be so unnatural 
as to hate an amiable young creature who dotes upon him, 
as you say this unfortunate young lady did upon her hus- 
band ?” 

“ Why, yes, sir ; for though I am a maiden lady, and 
should know but little of such affairs, yet I fancy that when 
a woman is forced upon a man against his will, he hates 
her, even if she is an angel, especially when he is as haughty 
and self-willed as our Fulke Greville.” 

“And do you really mean to say that this poor young 
lady was actually forced upon the acceptance of Colonel 
Greville ?” inquired the deeply shocked old magistrate. 

“Ah, sir, I fear indeed that there was but little doubt of 
it.” 

“And you believe this to be true ?” 

“ I am very sorry to admit that I do, sir.” 

“Will you be so good as to state the facts that lead you 
to this conclusion ?” 

“ Yes, sir. Gentlemen !” said Miss Hit, wiping her red 
eyes and looking around dimly upon the magistrate and his 
assistants, “ what I am going to tell you, I have never yet 
breathed to any human ear ! I should not breathe a word 
of it now' but that I am on my oath, and compelled to speak 
the whole truth, that the ends of justice may be satisfied. 
I know, then, that the poor deceased young lady was 
forced upon the acceptance of Colonel Greville by these 
circumstances. They were both the adopted children of 
Captain Fuljoy. It was the dearest wish of the old man’s 


166 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


heart to have the two married, so that he could leave his 
property undivided to them both — so ” 

“A moment, Miss Powers ! Do not let us get on too fast. 
How do you know that it was the dearest wish of Captain 
Fuljoy that his two wards should intermarry 1” inquired 
Major Burns. 

“ Because, sir, the captain has expressed such a wish to 
me, often and often, and because I overheard a conversa- 
tion between the captain and Colonel Greville upon the 
subject, which I was just about to report to you when you 
interrupted me.” 

“ I beg your pardon, Miss Powers ! Pray go on now.” 

“ Well, sir, as I remarked before, I have never breathed 
a word of this conversation to any human ear. No one 
has the least suspicion that I know any thing about it. 
Nor should I now, only ” 

“ To the point, Miss Powers, to the point, if you please,” 
said Major Burns, impatiently interrupting the old lady’s 
garrulity. 

“ Yes, sir ; well, then, it was last Christmas, was three 
years ago, that the captain first broached the subject of the 
proposed marriage to Colonel Greville, then Mr. Fulke. 
It was night, and I was in the large china closet adjoining 
the dining-room, where Captain Fuljoy and Mr. Fulke 
were still lingering over their wine, for dinner had been 
late that afternoon.” 

“ Yes, well ?” 

“ I was busy arranging the china and glass upon the 
shelves — for I never can trust Mandy to do it, she is so 
careless, she would break her weight in ” 

“ Never mind Mandy ’s carelessness, Miss Powers ; pray 
keep to the point.” 

“Well, then, I was still busy, when the captain began to 
talk of what was not intended for my ears, or anybody 
else’s but Mr. Fulke ’s. Now, I am not naturally an eaves- 
dropper. I scorn all such meanness, for I think it is the 
basest ” 


\ THE FOB TUNE SEEKER. 


167 


“ Miss Powers ! Miss Powers ! you are not here to defend 
yourself against any such charge 1 Therefore, will you be 
good enough to keep to the point exclaimed the irasci- 
ble little Irishman. 

“ I am keeping to the point, if you please, sir ; but I am 
not going to let any one believe that I remained there 
listening to conversation that was not intended for my 
ears, if I could help it. So I was about to say, that I could 
not prevent myself from hearing what followed, because the 
china closet had but one outlet, and that was through the 
dining-room, and as I did not like to break in upon the 
gentlemen over their wine, I was forced to remain where I 
was, and hear every thing.” 

“ What did you hear ?” 

“ What I never repeated before, and would not repeat 
now, if I were not upon my oath to speak the whole truth.” 

“Ugh! ugh! ugh!” groaned Major Burns, wiping his 
red face in an excited manner — “ shall we ever get to the 
gist of this woman’s evidence I What was it you heard ? 
Will you tell us or not ?” 

Miss Hit for a moment looked as if she would not ; for 
anger begets anger. And she was very much offended at 
the major’s impatient interruptions. However, she thought 
better of it, and replied : 

“ I heard the captain propose to Mr. Fulke that he — Mr. 
Fulke — should marry little Daney. You remember, major, 
that the late Mrs. Greville was called Daney ?” 

“ Yes, yes ! Do go on !” 

“At first Mr. Fulke laughed at the proposal, as if it had 
been a mere jest of the old man’s. But when the captain 
seriously pressed it upon him, he resented it as an affront. 
But the captain persevered telling him that, as he had won 
Daney ’s affection, he was bound in honor to marry her. 
But Mr. Fulke did not seem to see that, and affirmed that 
he had never sought to win her affections, and that if he 
had done so it was not his fault, and that he was not to be 


168 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


held responsible for the consequences; or words to that 
effect. The captain did not yield a point ; he pleaded little 
Daney’s cause with more warmth than delicacy, perhaps. 
And the more earnest the captain became, the firmer grew 
Mr. Fulke. He seemed to harden into rock, and he told 
his uncle plainly, that nothing on earth would ever induce 
him to marry Daney — that her social position was beneath 
him, and her personal appearance was disagreeable to him ; 
or, as 1 said before, words to the very same effect. Then 
the captain, mistaken- old man, tried to bribe him, promis- 
ing to adopt Daney legally, and give her his own name, 
and leave her half his fortune, and Mr. Fulke the other 
half if he would marry her ; but Mr. Fulke only more 
emphatically reiterated what he had said before, that 
nothing on earth would ever induce him to marry Daney, 
for that he could not tolerate her as a wife. Then the 
captain grew very angry, threatened to disinherit him, and 
ordered him out of the house. While the captain was 
stamping up and down the floor, and the young man was 
standing with his back toward me, saying something by 
way of leave-taking to his excited uncle, I seized the oppor- 
tunity to slip unobserved from the china closet. I was still 
lingering in the hall, arranging its chairs, when a few min- 
utes after the young man came out. He did not see me, 
but as he passed he smiled and muttered to himself words 
that I never have forgotten and never shall forget to the 
last day of my life.” 

“ What were those words ?” 

“ ‘If I were ever weak enough to marry that girl for for- 
tune, I should certainly he wicked enough to murder her for 
freedom P ” 

“ Gracious heavens !” ejaculated the terribly startled 
Major Bums. 

“Yes, sir! those were the words. Mr. Fulke left the 
house the same night. You may judge how those words 
came back to my mind, when, three weeks ago, I heard the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 169 

marriage was to come off. You may judge how they have 
haunted me since the events of last night. Sir, it half kills 
me to say it, but I have no more doubt that Fulke Greville 
has made away with his wife, than I have of my own exist- 
ence.” 

“ Miss Powers, we do not wish to hear any opinions of 
yours. Witnesses should deal only in facts. You may 
retire.” 

When Miss Hit left the room, Mr. Erlingford turned to 
Major Burns, and said : 

“ I think, sir, the evidence given by the last witness calls 
for the issue of a warrant for the arrest of Colonel Fulke 
Greville.” 

“ I think so too 1 I think so too !” sadly assented the 
major, and turning to his clerk, he added, “Make one out 
immediately, Mix.” 

“ It is already made, sir,” said the clerk, handing up the 
document for signature. 

“ So prompt ! There, then, serve it immediately, Hud- 
son,” said the major, affixing his name to the document, and 
handing it to the constable, who instantly left the chamber. 

Colonel Greville was seated in the adjoining room, over- 
whelmed with grief, yet goaded nearly to phrensy by the 
unavoidable delay that held him a fixture in that place, 
while he longed to rush away and seek some clue to the fate 
of his murdered wife or her assassins. 

“ You are wanted, if you please, sir,” said officer Hudson, 
laying his hand upon the colonePs shoulder and exhibiting 
the warrant. 

The colonel looked up from the bewilderment of his great 
sorrow, without comprehending a word that was said to 
him. And the constable had to repeat his words and call 
his attention to the warrant, before he fairly understood 
their purport. 

And then, but for the depth of anguish he suffered, he 
must have smiled at what seemed to him the absurdity of 
the arrest. 


170 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ A pair of Dogberries ! I suppose they feel obliged to 
arrest some one, and they think that I will do as well as 
another,” he muttered to himself, as he arose and followed 
the constable to the presence of the magistrate. 

Major Burns was in the act of signing a search-warrant, 
authorizing officer Hudson, to examine the apartments and 
effects of Colonel Fulke Greville. He put this paper into 
the hands of Hudson with orders to proceed upon it imme- 
diately. And as that officer started upon his mission, the 
magistrate turned to the colonel and said : 

“ Colonel Greville, I am extremely grieved by the painful 
duty forced upon me, but the sad truth is, that the general 
circumstances attending this painful affair, and the partic- 
ular charge lodged against you by Miss Powers, left me no 
option but to issue the warrant upon which you are brought 
before us. I repeat I am extremely grieved it should be so.” 

“ Sir, the fatal event of which you have spoken has so 
filled my soul with sorrow, that I have no room left for any 
other emotion, not even for that of regret for my own arrest 
upon so mad a charge.” 

“ I think, Colonel Greville, that when you shall have 
heard the evidence of Miss Powers, upon whieh this warrant 
was more immediately issued, you will scarcely continue to 
regard the charge as an unreasonable one. Let Miss Me- 
hitable Powers be called.” 

How Colonel Greville’s countenance did really exhibit 
some interest and curiosity. He was certainly surprised to 
hear that Miss Hit had any evidence to give that could in 
any way implicate him. And he was curious to know what 
that evidence could be. 

Miss Hit came in as before, shaking with excess of feel- 
ing, her head hanging helplessly back and her eyes askance 
with anguish, as if appealing to all present against the in- 
supportable weight of her present position and duty. 

“ I cannot help it, Fulke Greville — I cannot help it. I had 
rather died than stand here, knowing what I know, to give 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 171 

evidence against you ; but it is my duty, that the ends of 
justice may be answered,” she sobbed. 

“Address yourself to the magistrates, Miss Powers, not 
to the accused,” said Major Burns, gravely. 

Miss Hit made a grimace at him by way of reply, and 
then proceeded to give in her evidence, which, as it differed 
in no respect from that offered in her first examination, 
need not be repeated here. When it was finished, the elder 
magistrate inquired : 

“ Would you like to cross-examine this witness, Colonel 
Greville ?” 

“ Certainly not — her statements are all correct. I admit 
the facts, but ” 

» “ Colonel Greville, a gentleman of your culture and ex- 
perience should know better than to make dangerous ad- 
missions. Even justice does not demand them. Quite the 
contrary,” said Major Burns. 

“ I make no admissions that could possibly criminate me, 
since I am not criminal. I was about to say that I admit 
the facts of her statement, but deny the inferences she has 
drawn from them. It is true that, three years ago, when 
Daney was but a sickly child and I a petulant youth, I did 
reject her hand when it was offered me by our mutual 
guardian. True, also, that I used the words imputed to 
me, and said that — 1 if I could be weak enough to marry 
that girl for fortune, I could be wicked enough to murder 
her for freedom.’ The words were strong; but I spoke of 
the events as equal impossibilities. I never have been weak 
enough for the first act, and never could be wicked enough 
for the second. After a three years’ absence, a few weeks 
since I met Daney again, under another name. The sickly 
child had developed into a most beautiful woman ; and I 
admired and loved her. I married her from the purest and 
most disinterested motives. I did not even know until 
after the ceremony was performed, that our guardian had 
executed a deed, reserving for himself only a life-interest 


172 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


in his estates, and settling them equally upon myself and 
my wife, or wholly upon the survivor, should either of us 
survive the other.” 

“ ‘ Settling the whole upon the survivor, should either 
survive the other,’” repeated Mr. Erlingford, ominously 
shaking his head. 

“ I have warned you, Colonel Greville, against making 
these imprudent revelations. The law no more requires a 
man to criminate himself, than it requires him to hang him- 
self. Both are to be considered suicidal,” said the elder 
magistrate. 

But before Colonel Greville could reply to this remark, a 
bustle was heard in the next room, the connecting door was 
thrown open, and officer Hudson appeared, followed by an 
eager crowd, and bearing in his hands a gentleman’s dress 
coat, upon which all eyes were fixed in consternation. 

“ What have you got there, Hudson ?” inquired the elder 
magistrate. 

“ Something, your worship, as I think will throw some 
light on to this here dark subject. I found this coat hang- 
ing up in the wardrobe of the colonel’s dressing-room. You 
see the cuffs are thickly spotted with blood, and so are the 
openings of the pockets, as if bloody hands had been thrust 
into them. The colonel’s servants may be able to swear to 
the coat,” replied Hudson. 

“ Bring it here ; let us examine it ; and go and call 
Colonel Greville’s valet,” said Major Burns. 

The constable laid the coat upon the table before the 
magistrates, and then went to fetch the new witness, while 
every one else in the room drew near and bent forward to 
gaze upon the bloody token. But among all the bending 
faces none seemed so full of horror and amazement as that 
of Fulke Greville. Like the Gorgon’s head, the sight 
seemed to turn him into stone. 

Before any one found a tongue, Hudson reappeared, con- 
ducting Corporal Knox, the body-servant of Colonel Gre- 
ville. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 173 

Room was made for him ; the oath was administered, and 
his evidence taken. It was very brief, but very conclusive. 

“ What is your name ?” asked the clerk. 

“James Knox, your worship.” 

“ Are you the servant of Colonel Greville?” 

“ I am, sir.” 

“ Do you know this coat ?” 

“ Yes, sir ; it is one of my master’s dress coats. He wore 
it last evening.” 

“ Did he lay it off, upon retiring to his room ?” 

“No, your worship ; as soon as I had lighted my master 
to his dressing-room, he took the taper from my hand and 
bade me leave him, as he should not need my services any 
more that night. I went out, and he locked the door after 
me.” 

“ When you answered his bell a*id entered his room this 
morning, did you see this coat?” 

“No, your worship ; my master told me to get out an- 
other more suitable for morning wear. And so I neither 
saw, nor even thought of the missing coat.” 

This was the gist of Knox’s evidence. 

Some other unimportant questions were asked, but they 
elicited no further information. 

“Do you wish to put any question to this witness, 
Colonel Greville ?” coldly inquired Mr. Erlingford. 

“I do not ; I say, as I said in regard to the evidence 
given by Miss Powers — I admit the facts , but deny the 
inferences .” 

For all comment, Major Burns pointed significantly to 
the blood-stained cuffs of the coat before him. 

“ On my truth and honor — as the Lord is my judge — 
and as I hope for salvation — I know not how that blood 
came upon that coat ! I know it was perfectly fresh and 
spotlessly clean when I threw it off last night, just the 
instant before I sank into the arm-chair, where I fell 
asleep,” said the colonel, solemnly. 


174 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

The two magistrates consulted together for a few minutes, 
and then Major Barns turned and addressed himself to the 
accused, saying: 

“ Colonel Greville, a most painful duty lies before me ; 
and I have no alternative but to perform it. The testimony 
of Miss Powers as to the conversation that occurred between 
yourself and uncle some years ago, together with the fatal 
words you used in reference to your late unhappy wife ; 
the fact that you alone of all the world had access last 
night to that poor young lady’s chamber ; and the circum- 
stance of the blood found upon your coat-sleeves — all com- 
bine to form so great a weight of evidence against you, as 
leaves me no choice of courses whatever. It is my solemn 
duty to send your case to trial before a higher tribunal, 
where, I hope, as often happens, these dark circumstances 
may be cleared away from your fame. Mix, make out the 
mittimus.” 

“ Mr. Magistrate,” said Fulke, gravely, “ since the death 
of my beloved wife, existence has lost for me all its worth 
and sweetness ! Even liberty was valuable to me, only as 
alfording opportunity for tracing out her fate. I will, 
therefore, only ask of your kindness that you will send off 
a messenger to bring Captain Fuljoy home, that he may 
act for me in this search.” 

And so saying, Fulke Greville bowed to the magistrates, 
and sat down. 

Major Burns promised to comply with this request. The 
warrant of committal was signed and delivered to Hudson. 

And the same morning Fulke Greville was conveyed to 
the county prison, some twenty miles away on the main 
land. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


175 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE B RIDAL CHAMBER. 

And if thou tellest the heavy story right — 

Upon my soul the hearers will shed tears ; 

Yea, even my foes will drop fast-falling tears, 

And say — “Alas! it was a piteous deed !” — Shakespeare. 

We must return to Astrea, and take up her history 
from the moment at which, attended by her French maid, 
she entered her bridal chamber. She laid off her elegant 
evening dress, and threw on a graceful robe-de-chambre of 
white India muslin, seated herself in the easy chair and 
took the little Bible from the toilet table to read a chapter, 
as was her invariable custom before offering up her evening 
prayers. 

“ Will madame require any thing more ?” asked Fifine, as 
she arranged the foot-stool under her mistress’s feet. 

“ Nothing ; you may retire ; I will ring when I want you 
in the morning,” answered Astrea. 

“ Good-night, madame,” said the girl, curtsying. 

“ Good-night,” kindly, replied the lady. 

The Frenchwoman retired, and the bride was left alone. 

Why did Astrea replace the unopened Bible upon the 
dressing table, rest her elbow upon the arm of her chair, 
and bow her beautiful head upon the palm of her hand, 
while sigh after sigh broke from her bosom. 

She had every means and appliance of enjoyment at her 
command. She was blessed with youth, health, and wealth ; 
with beauty, genius and goodness ; she had realized the 
one blissful dream of her girlhood’s life ; she loved and was 
beloved ; she was a happy wife. 

Why, then, when left alone for a few moments, did pro- 
found sighs burst from her bosom as though it were over- 
charged with woe ?” 

“ Who can tell ? For why does the young bird, secure 


176 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

in its little nest, yet shudder even at the passing shadow 
of the hawk’s wing ? A deep gloom, like the shade cast by 
the pinions of a descending demon, settled heavily upon 
the young bride’s soul. In vain she tried to cast it off. In 
vain she called up all the dark scenes of her past life to 
compare them with the brightness of the present, and to 
assure herself how great a cause she now had for gratitude 
and joy. In vain ! for the dark shadow would not depart. 

At length, however, with a bound of relief from this 
weird nightmare, she heard Colonel Greville ascend the 
stairs, enter his dressing-room, and in a cordial, cheery 
tone of voice, dismiss his servant to rest. Now she 
thought that in a few moments she would no longer be 
alone; for her lover-husband would rejoin her. She 
breathed freely and with a smile at her recent childish 
weakness, she once more took up the Bible, opened it and 
began to read that chapter in Ephesians which the apostle 
fills with advice and instructions to husbands and wives. 
But she read with a divided attention — frequently lifting 
her eyes from the book and listening for those expected 
footsteps, that seemed so slow in coming. Useless vigil- 
ance ! all was profoundly still in Colonel Greville’s apart- 
ments. 

But she heard the sound of painful breathing near her 
door. It was Miss Hit’s panting and blowing, as with her 
attendant nymphs, Mandy and Sephy, she stole in reveren- 
tial silence past the bridal apartments and went up into the 
third story. 

With a gesture of petulant impatience, Astrea glanced 
at the ormolu clock upon .the mantlepiece. It was on the 
stroke of midnight. Then with a sigh she resumed her 
reading of the scriptures, and read on until she had fin- 
ished her chapter. Finally she laid the book aside and 
listened. 

But as yet all continued profoundly silent in Colonel 
Greville’s apartments. What was the meaning of this si- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 177 

lence ? Her every sense was strained to its utmost tension 
ot vigilance. She listened until lier ear became so acute, 
that she heard the distant sounds of the kitchen servants, 
retiring to rest in remote parts of the house. At length 
these also ceased, and not a motion disturbed the deep 
silence of the night. Again she glanced at the clock ; it was 
on the stroke of one ; and her lamp was burning dimly as 
though presently it must expire. The shadow that had 
fallen upon her grew blacker and heavier until to her pro- 
found depression of spirits was added an excessive nervous 
irritability, a strange terror of being left alone, and a wild 
dread of impending ruin ! She would willingly have retired 
to bed, but some awful spell seemed to rest upon her, to 
hold her fast to her seat, to deprive her of the power to 
move and the courage to look ! Yes, in this strange, un- 
explainable panic of the nerves, she dreaded even to glance 
over her own shoulders ! 

And well she might ! 

What dark form is that lurking among the shadows of 
her bed curtains ? It is clothed in female apparel, yet 
seems much too tall to be a woman ! Its face is concealed 
in a black mask, and its head wrapped in a black handker- 
chief. Its long, black gown descends to its feet, which are 
cased in thick, soft slippers incapable of sound. In its 
right hand it clasps what seems a dark lump of some yielding 
substance. With its left hand it holds by the hangings of 
the bed and guides itself along, as it glides stealthily to- 
ward the recumbent figure of the bride in the easy chair. 
It glides nearer and nearer — it has passed the foot of the 
bed — it is crossing the room — it steals closer and closer — 
it stands at the back of the chair — this appalling spectre ! 

Feeling rather than hearing or seeing the atrocious pres- 
ence, Astrea started up with a smothered cry, but in an 
instant a strong hand was clapped upon her mouth, and a 
large sponge saturated with chloroform was pressed to her 
nostrils, until her feeble, silent struggles subsided, and she 
11 


178 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

sunk into her seat overpowered, insensible, and for the time 
being, dead. Then her head was laid carefully over the low 
top of the chair, and the sponge, filled again with chloroform, 
was placed over her mouth and nose to retain her in that 
state of temporary death, and a large white sheet was 
thrown over the whole figure to confine the vapors of the 
deadly drug, while the dark minister of doom went about 
other nefarious work. It glided noiselessly to the door 
connecting the chamber with the dressing-room, and silently 
bolted it. Then as stealthily passed to the door leading out 
into the hall, and turned the key. Having thus secured the 
room against all chance of intrusion from any one in the 
house, the apparition passed to the French window leading 
out upon the upper porch, and raised its shrouded arm. 

And at that signal, in an instant, the room was silently 
filled with a crowd of dark forms, all clothed with long 
black gowns, and all wearing black masks, after the manner 
of the first one. There was one among the dusky group, 
however, that differed from the others — this was Fifine, the 
French maid of Astrea. The group gathered around the 
chair of the insensible victim, where they stood and spoke 
in low wispers. 

“ Is all quite safe ?” inquired one who seemed to be the 
leader of the band. 

“ All. Outside of this room, not a mouse stirs,” answered 
the tall figure who had signalled in the others. 

“ And my brother, the happy bridegroom ?” 

“ He is stone dead for eight hours, or else there is no 
virtue in the black drop.” 

“ Has she taken it ?” 

“No, Monsieur, she refused the wine in which it was 
infused.” 

“ It could not be that she suspected it ?” 

“No, Monsieur, that could not be, else would she not 
have warned her husband ? No, Monsieur, Madame did 
not suspect the wine. She declined it because she preferred 
lemonade.” 


179 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Why did you not infuse the drugs in that ?” 

“ Monsieur knows that the black drop would deeply tinge 
and flavor so delicate a liquid. Old port wine is the only 
medium in which the color and the flavor of the black drop 
can be effectually hidden. And Madame Greville refused 
the strong old port wine.” 

“ How then have you produced this deep sleep ?” inquired 
the leader, pointing to the death-like form of the bride, 
covered as it still was with the white sheet. 

“ It is not a sleep, Monsieur. It is better than that. I 
will explain. Madame having refused to touch the wine, 
all seemed lost but for the quick wit of our Fifine. She 
proposed the use of chloroform. Ah, Monsieur ! chloroform 
is a great agent of mercy, not only in the hands of the sur- 
geons, but in our hands as well ! When, for instance, the 
subjects of our operations are likely to be noisy or trouble- 
some, instead of being obliged to silence them by cutting 
their throats, as in former barbarous times, we can send 
them off in a swoon as sweet as the sleep of infancy !” 

“And so this is the swoon of chloroform?” inquired the 
leader, lifting the sheet, and holding the light to examine 
the face of the victim, now cold, white, and still as though 
the soul had fled, 

“ Par example! Mademoiselle proposed its use if I 
thought I possessed the courage and address to attempt its 
administration with success. If! Well, Monsieur, I ar- 
rayed myself in the habit and mask of our order, took the 
bottle and the sponge, and seizing a favorable opportunity, 
slipped unobserved into the sacred precincts of this temple 
of Hymen, and concealed myself in the bed curtains. I 
waited until I felt sure that the whole house was plunged in 
sleep, and Monsieur le Colonel, in particular, in the heaviest 
hour of his insensibility, before I ventured upon my experi- 
ment I Then it was easy to creep up behind my subject, 
clap my hand over her mouth, and hold the sponge over 
ner nose until she dropped into this swoon — it did not take 
twenty seconds to effect it !” 


180 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Victorine, you should be the Grand Mistress of our 
Order 1” exclaimed the man she had called Monsieur. 

“ I rule the Grand Master, Monsieur ! it is enough for 
my ambition !” 

“ But tell me, truly, did no one suspect your identity 
during the ten days that you have been in the service of 
this family ?” 

“No one, Monsieur, not even Mademoiselle Fifine, who 
did me the honor to approve my mustaches, and immedi- 
ately began to practice her fascinations upon me. She was 
rather disappointed to-night when I was forced to reveal 
myself to her !” 

This piece of information was received with a low laugh 
and murmur of applause from the dusky group. 

“ Your peculiar talent, no less than your courage and 
fidelity, make you invaluable to your order, Yictorine ! 
The first mentioned, is indeed amazing ! The ease with 
which you become in turn the wandering Italian minstrel, 
the old Irish crone, the gay young English officer, the 
French cook, or any thing else our interests require you to 
be, is almost incredible !” 

4< Truly ? But you forget, Monsieur, that this is my 
trade ! I was an indifferent comedienne before I became a 
novice of this order. But we are losing time, Monsieur. 
And though we may be perfectly safe from interruption, 
yet there is so much to be done tliat we had better hurry. 
But first let us examine the condition of our beauty here ! 
It will not do for her to recover in the midst of our pro- 
ceedings !” 

With these words the speaker untied and laid aside her 
own mask, revealing the beautiful, dark, gipsy face of a 
woman, not more than thirty years of age. Then she 
lifted the sheet from the face of her victim, and bent to ex- 
amine it, saying : 

“ The chloroform has all been inhaled, or evaporated. The 
sponge is quite dry. Yet her face is death-like, her respi- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 181 

ration imperceptible, and her pulse quite sunken. She is 
in as deep a swoon as any woman may be in and live ! Yet 
it is best to make 1 assurance doubly sure.’ Fifine ! take 
the bottle and the sponge and stand beside her. Watch 
her attentively. And upon the slightest indication of re- 
turning consciousness, clap the chloroform to her nose 
again. I have other work to do!” 

The French waiting-maid obeyed, took the bottle and 
the sponge, and placed herself before the poor bride, from 
whose ghastly features she never once removed her glitter- 
ing, snake-like eyes, until all the other proposed deviltries 
were enacted in the room. 

“ Stand out of my way, all of you ! I have something to 
do here which requires space!” commanded the woman 
called Victorine. 

She was immediately obeyed by the others, who all 
withdrew to the walls. 

“Now then, Monsieur! You are something of a sur- 
geon ! breathe this vein !” she continued, stripping up the 
sleeve and baring her left arm as she walked up and stood 
before the person addressed. 

“ What now, Yictorine ?” 

“ Open this vein !” 

“ For what purpose ?” 

“ Stupid ! do you not understand that this, our deed of 
darkness, must not seem to be an abduction, lest we should 
have the hue and cry after us ! That it must, on the con- 
trary, seem a murder, and his crime ! That thus two most 
important points will be gained ! We shall throw the 
avengers off the true scent, and we shall secure his appre- 
hension and detention for some time, even if we do not get 
rid of him forever !” 

“ Admirable ! Yictorine ! you are the master-spirit of this 
enterprise !” 

“ I shall prove that presently by deeds, not words ! 
Breathe this vein !” 


182 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


And again she offered her bare arm to the lancet. The 
vein was opened, and the rich, thick, crimson stream of life 
flowed freely. She extended her arm so as to let the blood 
drop fast as she moved from place to place through the 
chamber, noiselessly overturning chairs and rending dra- 
peries, and leaving upon every thing she touched the com- 
monly accepted sign of guilt ! No one could have looked 
upon the room without feeling convinced that some awful 
struggle, between victim and assassin, for life or death, had 
gone on within its walls ! When she had completed her 
task, she turned toward Dunbar, and laughed the low, fear- 
ful laugh of successful crime and triumphant guilt, saying : 

“ A woman wide awake and sitting in her chair, would 
not suffer herself to be murdered without making some re- 
sistance ! Behold, therefore, the marks of a desperate con- 
flict ! It would be rich, could we be present to see how the 
sapient law-officers will dwell upon all these signs as con- 
clusive proofs that a foul crime has been committed ! But 
by whom ? I will help them to that conclusion also !” 

And saying these words she went and drew the bolt of 
the door of the dressing-room, and passed into it. After 
an absence of five minutes, she returned, smiling, and 
whispering : 

“ He sits in his chair and sleeps like the dead ! His coat 
lay upon another chair near him. I have smeared the cuffs 
and the insides of the pockets, and hidden it in the ward- 
robe ; ‘ for it must seem his deed.’ Now bind up my arm ! 
my blood has done its work, and if but my ruse succeeds, 
my veins have not been drained in vain ! But bind up my 
arm, quickly! I tell you I feel faint, for even I cannot lose 
so much of my life-stream without giddiness !” 

And even as the fell woman spoke, she turned ghastly 
white, reeled, and might have sunk to the floor, had not the 
man, who seemed the leader of the band, and whom she 
had called Monsieur, caught her in his arms, and seated her 
carefully upon a lounge. He bound up her wound, and 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


183 


took a flask of brandy from his pocket, and placed it at her 
lips. She drank freely, breathed deeply, and exclaimed 
heartily, though in a low whisper : 

“ This is indeed eau-de-vie ! It gives me new life !” 

Then springing to her feet, she said : 

“We must get her to the boat as soon as possible, for 
the transformation cannot be made until I have her to my- 
self for a good hour, and that can only be managed in the 
cabin of the ship. Brothers, be careful as you go to leave 
no vestige of your presence here. Fifine, when we have 
gone, look around and see that no sign of our nocturnal 
visit remains.” 

“ I will take care of that, madame,” answered the wait- 
ing-woman. 

“ Now, then, to remove our beauty ! Monsieur, will you 
please to lend a hand ? Or, perhaps, you will prefer the 
undivided honor of bearing her off ? If so, proceed — ' none 
but the brave deserve the fair !’ ” concluded the woman. 

The leader approached, and raised the light, insensible 
form of the victim-bride in his arms, and passed with her 
through the French window out upon the upper front 
porch, followed by the other members of the gang — who, in 
obedience to the directions that had been given them, 
looked carefully around the room in leaving it, to assure 
themselves that no vestige of their fatal presence remained 
to betray them. And thus they passed from the bridal 
chamber, through the front porch and down the outer stairs 
to the path leading through the shrubberies down to the 
water’s edge. 

The leader carried the insensible form of Astrea in his 
arms. The woman Yictorine walked by her side, occa- 
sionally shredding off a fragment of the victim’s muslin 
dress, or a lock of her golden hair, to hang upon the bushes, 
saying, with her horrible laugh : 

“This is to make his sapience, the magistrate, believe 
that her body has been dragged, struggling, through these 


184 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

bushes and cast into the sea ! Thus you perceive I make 
it a complete case of perfect sequences ! Not a link in the 
chain of events shall be wanting. It shall appear that 
Astrea De Glacie has been murdered, and by him who is 
called Fulke Greville. And if the strong objection your 
democratic juries feel to convicting a gentleman does not 
save him, nothing else will !” 

They shuddered — even those evil men — to hear her speak 
thus! They neither approved nor replied, but pursued 
their way through the shrubbery until they reached the 
water’s edge, where a large boat lay moored and awaited 
them. 

The body of Astrea was carefully placed in the stern. 
And then the whole party embarked. Six of them, three 
for each side of the boat, took oars and rowed swiftly 
toward a ship that lay at anchor about a mile below the 
island. 

On reaching the vessel, they embarked, carefully carrying 
the body of the unfortunate Astrea, who now, too late, w r as 
beginning to show signs of returning consciousness. 

Monsieur bore her down into the cabin and laid her in a 
berth, and left her in the care of Madame Victorine. 

Then bounding up the stairs, three steps at a time, he 
sprang upon deck, threw off his black mask and black 
gown, and revealed himself as dashing a young sea-captain 
as ever trod the quarter-deck. 

At the same moment, as at a signal, his dark companions 
threw off their sloughs, and appeared as reckless a set of 
sailors as ever worked a pirate ship or boarded a peaceful 
merchantman. 

At the word of command from their captain, the men im- 
mediately commenced work. Some occupied themselves 
with getting up the anchor, while others were busy with 
the sails and ropes. 

Meanwhile, in the cabin below a singular scene was going 
on. It was a small recess in the interior of the ship, lighted 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


185 


by one small lamp, that hung from the ceiling and swung 
with the motion of the waves. It was accommodated with 
two berths, one on each side, and with a chest of drawers 
at the upper end, immediately opposite the stairs leading 
up on deck. On the edge of the right hand berth lay ex- 
tended the body of Astrea — still dressed in the rich white 
India muslin wrapper, now much torn and defaced. ITer 
beautiful face was marble ; her glistening golden hair 
trailed in faded splendor over her shoulders and bosom ; 
her violet eyes, under their snowy, half-closed lids, looked 
like orbs of lead ; one arm lay listless on her bosom, the 
other hung lifeless over the edge of the berth. 

Beside this form of death stood the woman Yictorine, 
still clothed in the long, flowing black robe, but with her 
black mask laid aside, and holding in her hand the sponge, 
saturated with the murderous chloroform with which she 
had again stupefied her victim. 

“ There ! that will do for the present,” she exclaimed, as 
she stood contemplating her fiendish work. 

“ How long shall you be?” inquired the voice of the cap- 
tain, in a fierce whisper from the head of the stairs. 

“An hour,” answered the woman, in the same key. 

“ Do not be longer, for we sail with the first tide. And 
mind — disguise, but do not disfigure her ; it would spoil 
her market.” 

“ 1 will not. I will only darken her. She will make a 
beautiful brunette. Her eyes are of such dark blue, that, 
with black eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair, and dark brown 
skin they will also pass for black ! Oh, yes, she will be 
equally charming as a brunette ; more so, indeed, to those 
who think — ‘ It is but the embrowning of the rind that 
proves the richness of the fruit enclosed within,’ ” said the 
woman, with a cynical laugh. “ Besides,” she added, “ how 
could you possibly get rid of a fair woman ? Who would 
take her unless I darkened her ?” 

“ No one ! you reason well ! Perform your part as well ! 
Change her complexion, but preserve her beauty.” 


186 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Sacredly.” 

“And finish your work within the time specified.” 

“ Yes, I will ; and do you be sure to have the boat ready 
to take me back to the island. The gallant bridegroom, 
having lost his bride, must not also lose his. French cook, 
else will the coincidence of their joint disappearance sug- 
gest that the one has murdered the other and fled, which 
would be a great scandal ; or that they had bolted together, 
which would be a greater,” laughed the woman. 

“ I will have the boat got ready in time. Yictorine ?” 

“ Monsieur I” 

“ Lest I should forget to remind you in the hurry of the 
last moment, remember that the next rendezvous is at the 
Balize.” 

“ I will remember to meet you there, Monsieur. Never 
fear.” 

The captain then disappeared from the top of the stairs. 

And the woman commenced her dreadful task. First 
she picked up the wick of the lamp to raise a stronger 
light. Then she took a bottle of pale brown liquid from 
the top of the chest of drawers, and poured some of its 
contents into a tumbler. Then she took a soft piece of 
flannel, and sitting down beside the insensible girl, began 
to dye her skin by dipping the cloth in the liquid and 
gently washing her face, that soon changed from its trans- 
parent lily fairness to that clear, light brown hue peculiar to 
the complexion of quadroons. Her face, neck, bosom, 
arms, and hands were all made to assume this color of the 
mixed race. When this process was complete, the woman 
replaced the tumbler and the bottle, and took from the 
same stand a large vial of some dark preparation, labeled 
“ Eclipse,” with which, by the aid of a small sponge, she 
proceeded to saturate the golden hair of the victim, which 
began rapidly to assume a raven hue. Hair, eyebrows, 
and even eyelashes were treated in the same manner. 

And when this second process was in its turn perfected. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


187 


no one could have recognized Astrea. Her dazzlingly fair 
complexion was now of a clear olive. Her glistering golden 
hair, and her delicately penciled eyebrows and eyelashes, 
were now inky black. In a word, the radiant blonde had 
been transformed to a brilliant brunette. She had been as 
beautiful as a sunny day before ; she was as beautiful as a 
starlight night now. 

The artist gazed well pleased upon her work„saying : 

“ I wonder what she will think when she first looks at her- 
self in a glass ? Her reason will be disturbed by her lost 
identity ! And farther, what will she think when she finds 
herself out at sea, with none but strange faces around her ? 
I should not be surprised if amazement were to drive her 
mad !” 

“ Have you got through ? We shall scarcely have time 
to put you ashore and bring back the boat, before the tide 
will serve !” spoke the voice of the captain down the stairs. 

“ I have ; * it is a feat accomplished !’ Come down and 
gaze upon the magic work ! And tell me whether she were 
more lovely as a blonde or a brunette ?” 

The captain crept softly down the stairs and stood by 
his accomplice, criticising her handiwork. 

“ She is beautiful exceedingly, even now ; yet in my 
opinion she was far more so before you changed her com- 
plexion. But this may be a mere matter of taste. I, being 
swarthy as a gipsy, naturally admire blonde women. Blonde 
men, on the contrary, might fancy this dark beauty. Be- 
sides, as you justly hinted, it was necessary for two reasons 
to change her into a brunette ; first, to make her unre- 
cognizable to her friends, and secondly, to render her 
saleable as a quadroon. You have done the work admira- 
bly, Victorine.” 

“ Thank you, Monsieur.” 

“ And now to the boat.” 

The woman arose and followed the man to the deck. 
Here at the starboard gangway lay the boat, manned by six 


188 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


rowers. The captain handed Yictorine in, took his place 
by her side, and gave the order to put off. The boat left 
the ship and was swiftly rowed toward the island. When 
they reached the shore, the woman sprang lightly upon the 
sands, and the boat was again turned with its head toward 
the ship. As the boat receded from the land, the captain 
stood up in the stern, waving his cap in adieu, and saying: 

“ Remember the rendezvous on the first of June at the 
Balize.” * 

“ The first of June at the Balize ! I shall remember l” re- 
plied the woman, as she turned and walked rapidly through 
the shrubbery toward the house. 

Day was just breaking as she glided up the stairs to the 
upper porch and passed through the French windows and 
re-entered the desolate chamber of Astrea. 

The girl Fifine was sitting there in the morning twilight. 

“ Has any one stirred ?” inquired Yictorine, in a low voice. 

“ No one ; except that I have heard the fat woman over- 
head turn in her bed and shake the house !” 

“ Then let us hurry to our chambers. Every moment 
that we remain here longer endangers our liberty and even 
our lives !” 

And with these words, after a last careful survey of the 
room, and a few more artistic touches to the picture of 
crime, Yictorine and Fifine glided noiselessly from the 
chamber, and stole up to their own rooms in the garret of 
the back building. 

The girl threw herself upon her cot bedstead to try to 
compose her own excited nerves and gain a few hours of 
restoring sleep before it should be time for her to arise 
and perform her part in the morning’s work. 

But the woman, whose constitution of tempered steel 
seemed to defy the effects of vigilance and fatigue, threw 
open her dormer window to let the early light in, and then 
began to dress herself in the disguise through which she 
had entered the service of the family. First she took the 


T IT E FORTUNE SEEKER. 


189 


refreshment of a sponge bath. Next she folded her long, 
black hair compactly, and concealed it all under a luxuriant 
black wig. Then she attached to her upper lip and chin 
the black moustaches and imperial. And finally she arrayed 
herself in the white linen round jacket, trowsers, and apron 
of “ Monsieur le Chef.” In which character the reader al- 
ready knows that she performed her part to everybody’s 
admiration. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 
astrea’s awakening. 

A gentle start convulsed the lady’s frame, 

Her veiny eyelids quietly unclosed ; 

Moveless awhile the dark blue orbs remained, 

She looked around in wonder. — Shelley. 

The boat was rowed rapidly back to the ship. It was 
broad day. The fast approaching sun had flushed w r itli 
crimson the eastern horizon. The tide was on the turn. 
It was going out. The captain sprang upon the deck, and be- 
gan to give his orders in an impatient and peremptory tone. 

The anchor was raised, the sails set, and the gallant little 
brigantine stood out to sea. The wind was fair, and she 
sailed swiftly down the broadening creek and out into the 
open bay. In an hour or two the shores of Maryland had 
faded into the distance. 

Meanwhile, in the cabin below, Astrea was slowly return- 
ing to consciousness. No human creature, much less a 
delicate young lady, would have been so long subjected to 
the power of chloroform and recovered easily or com- 
pletely. 

Thus it happened that Astrea opened her large dark 
eyes, and looked around her in semi-consciousness, without 
memory of the past, knowledge of the present, or fear of 


190 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

the future. She looked up at the queer ceiling over her 
head, at the strange walls around her, at the odd little door 
at the head of the short stairs, and finally turned her eyes 
down upon the unknown form of the negro woman who had 
now taken Yictorine’s place at her side. Then she rubbed 
her eyes, as though trying to awake from some unpleasant 
dream, and looked around once more, while her face began 
to assume an expression, first of curiosity, then of per- 
plexity, and finally of vague alarm. 

“ What place is this ? How came I here ? And — who 
are you?” she inquired, looking wistfully at the negro. 

“ Dis ship de Kite, chile. Cap’n fotch you. Pse de 
stewardess,” replied the negress. 

“ The Kite ? the captain ? stewardess ? What are you 
talking about ?” exclaimed Astrea, opening her large eyes 
to their widest extent, and then hastily rising upon her 
elbow and throwing a wondering glance around the cabin. 

“ You’s on de Kite, honey, as I said afore. Cap’n fotch 
you. Pse de stewardess, p’inted here for to ’tend to you.” 

“ But what does it all mean ? Where is the Kite going ? 
Who is the captain? Why was I brought here? And 
where, oh, where is my husband, and why has he left me 
here alone?” exclaimed Astrea, heaping question upon 
question in excessive trepidation that scarcely reached the 
climax of terror, for memory and understanding had not 
as yet returned in full force. 

“ Lor’ Gorarmighty, chile, how you does run on to be 
sure ! Who you think gwine to ’member of all dem ques- 
tions to ’ply to dem ? ’Sides which you mus’ know ’nuff 
more ’bout it dan I do I All I know, boat went ashore up 
de crik som’er’s ’bout ’twix’ midnight an’ day, an’ fotch 
you off — all wrap up ’n sheet in dead swoon ; an’ dey carry 
of you down here ; an’ me nebber see de sight ob your face 
’till little while ago, when cap’n tell me come down an’ ten’ 
to you. So how I know any thing ’bout it ?” 

" Captain ? Oh !” exclaimed the still bewildered girl, in 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 191 

a flash of false light, “ you mean Captain Fuljoy, my dear 

guardian ! but still I don’t understand it ! Why ” 

Whatever Astrea was about to ask was interrupted by the 
negress saying : 

“ Cap’n Full-ob-joy ? No honey, I don’ know nuffin’ ’tall 
’bout no Cap’n Full-ob-joy. I ’fers to de cap’-n of dis ship.” 

“ Then, what does all this mean ? And where is Colonel 
Greville ? Why has he left me ?” wildly exclaimed Astrea. 

“ Colonel — who , honey ?” inquired the negress. 

“ Colonel Greville ! Oh, why has he left me alone so long 
in this strange place ? I must have had a fever, and been 
out of my mind and lost my memory, for I have no recol- 
lection at all of why I came here I Oh, you said I was in- 
sensible when they brought me in here. Ah, to be sure ! 
that was it I I have had a long illness, and have been de- 
lirious — indeed, my head feels very queer still — and they 
brought me while I was in a stupor I and they are taking 
me a sea-voyage for my health. I have heard of such cases 
before. Is not that it, my good woman ?” inquired Astrea, 
smiling. 

“ ’Haps so chile ! I don’t know nuffin’ ’tall ’bout it, 
more an’ I told you.” 

“ Why, certainly, it is so ! But how strange ! Do you 
know, all these long weeks of my illness are perfect blanks 
in my existence. The last thing I remember — yes, it is 
coming to me now — the last thing I remember was sitting 
in my bedchamber very late at night, waiting for my hus- 
band to come in ; and feeling very ill and nervous, and 
being afraid to look around, and fancying I felt or saw a 
tall black spectre behind me, afnd screaming and fainting — 
and that is all. That must have been the commencement 
of my illness. It must have been sudden congestion of the 
brain — followed by long fever and delirium ! Thank heaven 
I am better now I But why does Colonel Greville stay away 
so long ? Pray go and let him know that the crisis of my 
fever has passed, and that I have recovered my senses, and 
wish to see him above all things.” 


192 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Chile, I don’t know what you’re a talkin’ ’bout, no more’n 
de dead ! An I s’pects you don’t nuther ! I don’t know 
nuffin’ ’tall ’bout no Colonel Grivill. Dere’s no sich 
here — neber was.” 

“ What ? Colonel Greville not here ? Nor Captain Ful- 
joy neither?” cried Astrea, falling back into perplexity. 

“ Nyther de one nor yet de oder ! Neber in all my born 
days heard tell on ’em.” 

“What? Oh! surely, they never sent me, ill, and on 
this voyage alone ? Who came with me ? In whose charge 
was I placed ?” Asked Astrea, hurriedly, anxiously. 

“ Lor’, chile, aint I done tell you a’ready all I know 
’bout it ? How de cap’n fotch you here and put you in my 
charge ? But what I ’ spects ’bout it, if you want to know 
dat, is dis : how your marse, Colonel Grivill, if he was your 
marse, done sold you on de sly to Marse Cap’n. Hat’s what 
I ’spects ! ’Cause you see white gem’n will do dem dere dirty 
tricks sometimes, an’ don’t think nuffin’ ’tall of ’em either.” 

“ Sold ? Master ? Why, woman, what are you talking 
about ? Colonel Greville is my husband !” exclaimed Astrea, 
ready to weep with vexation, which was, however, quite 
undefined, for she was as yet far — very far — from suspect- 
ing the real horrors of her position. 

“ He ! he ! he ! Colonel Grivill your husband ! An’ now 
he’s done sole you ! Pity, too, for you’re a purty gal, too, 
for a ’latto.” 

“Woman! you are crazy, or intoxicated! How dare 
you talk of me and my husband in that way !” exclaimed 
Astrea, indignantly, starting up. 

In the suddenness of her action, her hair fell forward, 
and flowed, a long black veil, down over her bosom ! 

She snatched it up and gazed at it with unmitigated amaze- 
ment ! She pulled at it, expecting it to fall off like a wig ; 
but when she found that these raven tresses grew upon her 
head — her head, that had been glorious in its wealth of 
golden hair — her mouth opened, and her eyes dilated with 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


193 


wonder ! While thus staring aghast at her changed hair, 
she noticed the pale brown hue of her once lily fair hands 
and arms. And she raised those affrighted eyes to the 
face of the woman, exclaiming : 

“ Fiend ! what diabolical art is this that has been prac- 
tised upon me ? Where is my dear old guardian ? Where 
is my husband? Oh, Fulke ! Fulke I where are you? Oh, 
wake me ! wake me ! from this hideous dream I Fulke ! 
Fulke ! I have the nightmare !” 

Throwing her arms wildly forward, she rushed from the 
berth ; but was instantly stopped by the negro woman, who 
said : 

“ Sit down, honey ; I call de captain. He tell you all 
about it better ’an I can.” 

More from giddiness and exhaustion than in the spirit of 
compliance, Astrea sank in the sole chair of the cabin, and 
again turned her eyes in wild amazement upon her own 
changed hair and skin. 

The negro woman — she was short, fat, and very black, 
and wore a dark blue gown and a bright bandanna turban 
— waddled up the stairs in search of her master. A few 
minutes passed away, and then the captain came down 
into the cabin alone and approached her. 

“ So, yt>u wish to see me, pretty one ! Well, I have no 
very particular objection,” he said, stooping down, throw- 
ing his arm around her waist, and attempting to imprint a 
kiss upon her lips. But at the approach of his hot breath, 
she suddenly shrieked, started up, and sprang to the cor- 
ner of the cabin, where she stood like a young leopardess 
at bay, her face ghastly, her eyes dilated, her very hair 
bristling up with mingled amazement, horror, and defiance ! 

The captain did not attempt to pursue her, but sank into 
the chair from which she had fled, where he remained, 
studying her with curiosity. 

“Who are you, man?” she at length broke forth; “who 
are you, that dare insult me thus ? Who are j^ou, I ask?” 

12 


194 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“Your slave, pretty one, if you will; your master, 
whether you will or no!” 

“ Insolent ! You are the captain of this ship, I suppose ?” 

“Aye — and of you, my dear !” 

“Wretch! do not suppose that you can insult me with 
impunity ! Where is my husband ?” 

“Your husband, girl? In the moon, perhaps! certainly 
not on earth ! You never had a husband, my girl. Young 
women of you^ peculiar color seldom reach the dignity of 
marriage,” said the captain, coolly crossing one leg over 
the other, while he took from his pocket a cigar, lighted it, 
and commenced smoking away. 

“ Dastard ! how dare you speak to me in that style ! But 
rest assured it shall not pass unpunished. Colonel Gre- 
ville will hold you to a stern account for these outrages 
offered to his wife !” exclaimed Astrea, indignantly. 

“ Ha ! ha ! ha !” was the only comment. 

“And since you are the captain of this ship, sir, I com- 
mand you to tell me how I was conveyed hither ? That I 
was brought here through some foul felony, I begin to be 
aware !” 

“ Come, come, Zora, enough of this raving 1” said the 
captain, coolly puffing away at his cigar. 

“Zora ?” slowly repeated the victim, in amazement. 

“ Certainly, Zora ! that is your name, is it not ? or have 
you really forgotten that, as well as your position in the 
world ?” 

“ Zora ! my name is Astrea ! I am the wife of Colonel 
Greville, as, no doubt, you know full well 1” 

“ My poor girl ! what a pity it is that one so young and 
pretty as yourself should be the victim of such a mono- 
mania ! Try to shake it off, Zora !” 

“ I tell you I am not Zora! I am Astrea de Glacie, wife 
of Colonel Fulke Greville !” 

“Ha! ha! ha! oh, doubtless! And to-morrow you may 
fancy yourself the widow of General Napoleon Bonaparte ! 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


195 


Try to shake off this haunting monomania. It is the rem- 
nant of your brain fever ! You were only the chamber- 
maid in the steamboat that brought Colonel and Mrs. 
Fulke Greville to the island where they were to spend their 
honeymoon. Thinking the position of chambermaid in a 
steamboat unworthy of so beautiful a girl as yourself, I 
purchased you for eight hundred dollars from your master. 
You took the transfer rather hard, and had a brain fever, 
from which you are only now recovering ! In your delirium 
you fancied yourself Mrs. Fulke Greville, as you might 
have fancied yourself Mrs. Pontius Pilate, or Mrs. Julius 
Caesar. But I will help you to recover your reason by 
bringing to your memory one significant fact. Mrs. Fulke 
Greville I came down the bay in the same boat with, and 
had ample opportunity for knowing. Mrs. Fulke Greville, 
then, was the fairest among fair women, with a snowy com- 
plexion, golden hair, and blue eyes ! And you are as dark 
as a Spaniard, with an olive skin and jet black hair. Come, 
does that bring you to your reason ?” 

“ Oh, I know ! I know ! some evil art has been practised 
to darken me ! I can see that ! But for what purpose I 
do not know ! Oh, heaven ! but this is maddening. I must 
try to preserve my reason ! try to recollect with more dis- 
tinctness the circumstances attending my loss of conscious- 
ness ! try to bring my understanding to judge of these 
things ! try to summon courage to bear this misfortune, un- 
til I struggle out of it, God helping me 1” exclaimed Astrea, 
clasping her temples between her hands. 

“ Yes ; endeavor to recover your reason, my good girl. 
It is the best thing that you can possibly do,” said the cap- 
tain, as he arose and went on deck. 

When relieved of the captain’s hateful presence, even 
amid the anguish of her heart, Astrea dropped her head 
upon her hand, closed her eyes, and gave her mind up to 
intense thought. Two things puzzled her — the manner and 
motive of her abduction. First, by the severest effort of 


196 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


memory, she recovered some knowledge of the manner. 
She now recollected distinctly the events of that fatal night. 
The presentiment of evil that had overshadowed her mind, 
while sitting alone in her chamber — the dark robed figure 
that had advanced upon her from behind, and that she now 
knew to have been a reality ; her own sudden start, and 
smothered shriek; the instantaneous application of the 
sponge filled with chloroform to her mouth and nostrils ; 
her feeble resistance, that so soon yielded to the overpow- 
ering agent ; and even the silvery ringing in her brain be- 
fore she fell into insensibility. All this she now remembered 
with sufficient assurance to have justified her in giving 
testimony as to the facts before any court. She studied 
out, also, the mystery of her sudden change of complexion. 
She remembered that there were certain chemical agents 
that would dye the hair and stain the skin, and knew that it 
must have been through these the change was effected. So 
far the manner of her abduction and the means of her dis- 
guise were sufficiently clear to her. But the motive of that 
abduction and disguise — what was that ? Simply to take 
her to the South and sell her as a quadroon girl ? Such, 
from the conversation of the captain, it would appear to be I 
Yet she could not believe this to be the sole object. Such 
a motive might have influenced some poor wretch of a kid- 
napper, but not this man, the master of a fine brigantine. 
No 1 there was something deeper than a small mercenary 
motive in her abduction ! Certain half-faded memories of 
her childhood — the old chateau, the flag-tower, the grand- 
p<$re — the long, dream-like sea voyage with people among 
whom she could not understand nor make herself understood 
in language — all these revived and connected themselves 
strangely with the present facts of her abduction and 
transformation, and convinced her that some secret enemy 
had some powerful motive in her suppression — though of 
the nature of that motive she could form no conjecture. 
Having thus as nearly as possible ascertained her real po- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 197 

sition, her present bondage and future dangers, her next 
care was to study in what manner she should deal with 
them. Astrea was a woman of great intellect, strong will, 
and firm nerves. Hitherto, these endowments had never 
been called into action. But this strange and terrible or- 
deal suddenly developed them to their highest perfection. 
She would not become an easy victim ! She would be equal 
to the situation ! She knew that during the sea-voyage, at 
least, there would be no possibility of escape, except — 
through suicide, and that but one event could possibly jus- 
tify such a desperate act. She formed her resolutions ac- 
cordingly. First of all, to possess herself as soon as pos- 
sible of some deadly weapon, with which she might protect 
herself against the advances of the smuggler captain or 
any of his crew. Secondly, to indulge in no vain repinings, 
or weak fears, but to strengthen her mind and body to meet 
and conquer her fate ! To effect this she resolved to pray 
earnestly to God for aid — and to use all earthly means be- 
sides — to take her usual quantity of food and drink, and 
exercise and air, and sleep also, if possible. Thirdly, that 
as soon as the ship should reach port, no matter where, 
she would invoke the aid of the first man or woman that 
she met, by stating her case and demanding to be taken 
before a magistrate for its examination. Having thus as- 
certained her position, and formed her course of action, 
Astrea grew composed. To carry out the first item of her 
resolutions, she arose and searched the cabin, in the hope 
of finding some sharp instrument, if no better than a case- 
knife, that she could conceal about her person. She looked 
over the top of the bureau, and then drew out the drawers 
one by one. They were nearly all filled with a gentleman’s 
wearing apparel. And Astrea looked through three or 
four without finding what she wanted. At length, however, 
her hopes were more than realized. In the fourth or fifth 
drawer she found a perfect bijou of a dagger, of tempered 
steel— small, bright, and keen. She seized it eagerly, and 
closed the drawers. 


198 


THS FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Come, little friend ! Come,” she said, fondly placing it 
in her bosom, “ rest near my heart, and be to me both shield 
and sword !” 


CHAPTER XXIY. 
astrea’s voyage. 

Write ! and tell out this bloody tale ; 

Record this dire eclipse, 

This day of wrath, this endlesB wail, 

This dread apocalypse ! — Longfellow. 

Astrea had scarcely concealed the weapon before the 
door at the head of the stairs was darkened, and the form 
of the negro woman appeared, bearing a waiter with her 
breakfast. 

Astrea had scarcely any appetite ; yet, pursuant of her 
design to keep up her strength, she sat down at the little 
fixture-table upon which the waiter was placed, and drank 
a cup of coffee, and ate a roll and a slice of ham. 

“ You feels better now, honey, don’t you ?” inquired the 
kind-hearted colored woman, who had watched Astrea with 
great satisfaction. 

“Much better, thank you! What is your name, that I 
may know what to call you ?” 

“ Wenus, chile — dough why dey give me dat name in bab- 
tism, I’m sure I don’t know ! cause you see, honey as I 
nebber had no chillun nyther to nuss, nor yet to wean ! 
Derefore, why Wenus ?” 

. “It is Yenus, I suppose, the goddess of love,” said 
Astrea. 

“ Hen why dat ? I don’t know of no goddesses, I wor- 
ships one Lord. An’ I nebber was in lub in my life ! So 
why goddess of lub ?” 

“ I don’t know, I’m sure.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


199 


‘‘Nor I nuther, honey ! why couldn’t dey call me Mary 
J ane, or Ann Maria, or some sensible name like dat ? But 
no ! Wenus I Just like de white folks’ nonsense ! Dey 
called my only father Pontius Pirate 1 him as was a tall, 
slim, ole colored gemman, widout eben de beginnin’ ob a 
paunch, and likewise a ’spectable member ob de Methody- 
Pitily Church, as was a great deal too tender-hearted to be 
a pirate ! But dat just like de white people ! Dey call de 
old plantashum Ben Lomond, arter some man in Scotland ! 
Now de idee ob callin’ a dumb house an’ lan’ arter de name 
ob a Christian ! I don’t hold wid it myself !” 

“ Do you know where this ship is going ?” inquired 
Astrea, interrupting the discourse of the goddess. 

“ Hi ! how I know, chile ? Marse Cap’n nebber tell we 
colored folks nuffin. He got such na’ty, ’tinking, ’ceitful, 
secrety ways wid him ! I can’t bide him nryself, nor no 
sich 1” 

“ Why do you live with him then ?” inquired Astrea, who, 
in pursuance of her resolutions, was determined to seek all 
the information she could possibly acquire under the cir- 
cumstances. 

“ Why does I lib ’long ob him ? Hi, chile ! how I gwine 
help myse’f ? I ’longs to him. He bought me offn de ole 
plantashum, at de sale as followed arter ole marse ’s death ! 
Poor, dear ole marse ! he was more like a farder to us dan 
any thing else ! It is enough to fetch him out’n his grabe 
to know what followed arter his death. De colored people 
an’ de ole plantashum itself all brought underneaf ob de 
hammer ! But you see, chile, he was too lib’al. He nebber 
had de spunk to say ‘ no’ to nobody. An’ he lib generous ; 
an’ he kep’ de ole house full ob company; an’ he s’ported so 
many ob his poor ’lations ; and he help’ so many as wouldn’t 
help demselves; an’ he ’dorsed for a rogue as meant to 
cheat eberybody as he dealt wid. Dat was de las’ an’ de 
wus. He might ob got along wid all de res’, but he went 
an’ ’dorsed, an’ dat was de end ob him. Mind, honey, what 


200 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


I say — you’se a berry putty gal, you is — berry putty ! an’ 
your putty face may bring you good luck ; an’ some day 
you may be fee ; an’ eben liab money ob your own. Now 
mine what I tell you — nebber you ’dorse ! not for nobody ; 
len’ de money fust ; do any thing fust ; for ’dorsing is de 
ruination ob hund’eds an hund’eds ! It was de ruination ob 
ole marse 1 Consequently, it was de ruination ob we ! 
When he saw de crash a-comin’ he jes’ took to his bed an’ 
died ob a crushed spirit, as hund’eds an’ hund’eds do. 
Soon as de breaf was out’n his body — flop ! down comes 
all de buzzards on to what he’d lef, house an’ lan’ an’ col- 
ored folks. All went underneaf ob de hammer. Nuffin 
was lef for ole mist ’ess an’ de two young ladies. An’ now, 
you see, dey is poor ’lations, poor t’ings, libbin’ ’bout ’mong 
dere cousins an’ sich ! ’Fore dey should o’ come to dat, I’d 
a’ worked my finger ends off; dat is, if I’d a’ been lef ; but 
no sich good luck ! Marse Cap’n was at de sale, an’ bought 
me to wait on de ship ! An’ de creditors — de buzzards 1 
calls ’em — got de money.” 

“ How long was that ago ?” inquired Astrea, still in pur- 
suit of knowledge. 

“ Lor’, chile, not many weeks. Dis I may say is my 
furst voyage ’long ob Marse Cap’n. Minute he bought me 
he put me into a gig, ’longside ob hisself, an’ druv me into 
de city.” 

“What city?” here interrupted Astrea. 

“ Hi, honey, New Orleans ! what oder city could it be ? 
Hat’s de only city in de worl’, aint it ? An’ our ole planta- 
shum was a little way out’n it. An’ so, you see, it took 
Marse Cap’n only ’bout one hour to drive to de city an’ den 
to de w’arf, an’ den he put de gig into de libery stable, an’ 
put me into a row-boat an’ took me off to dis ship, as was 
a layin’ ’siderable way off, down de ribber. An’ den we set 
sail, an’ nebber see no more lan’ ’till we come up dis crik. 
An’ den ! dat all I know ! An’ I has my s’picions as Marse 
Cap’n aint all he ought for to be ! But I don’t let on ! I 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


201 


lays low an’ says nuffin, ’ca’se what can a poor woman do ? 
An’ so, you see, as he is ’ceitful to eberybody, I mus’ be 
’ceitful to him in self-’fence. Dat de reason he trusses me 
for to wait on you ! ’ca’se I makes ’tence to like him.” 

“Such deception seems to me to be a cruel alternative, 
but I hope that the sin — for it is a great sin — will be charged 
only to those who compelled it,” said Astrea, gravely. 

“ Jes so, honey ; jes so, chile ; I alius says to myse’f, an’ 
likewise to de ’cordin angel, ‘ set it down to de ’count of 
Marse Cap’n! He my marster an’ ’sponsible for all my 
debts ! dere !’ ” 

Astrea mused for a little while, and the result of her 
musing was the determination to make a friend of this poor 
negress. As an initiative step, she inquired : 

“ Venus, whom do you take me to be ?” 

“ Hi, honey ! how I know ? But I suppose you some 
young gal as Marse Capt’n took a fancy for, an’ bought 
from your marster.” 

“ And what do you think he means to do with me ?” 

“ Lor, chile, what de use o’ axing me ? How can I tell ? 
But I ’spects how he be gwine ither to keep you for hisself, 
or else to sell you to some rich gemman down at New 
Orleans.” 

“ Then you must think that I am a — slave !” gasped As- 
trea, flushing fiery red at the word. 

“ Sartain, honey, dough you is berry purty, an’ berry 
purty spoken, too ; else why here ?” 

“ Then you are mistaken, Venus ! I am by position a 
young lady. I was seized last night in my own bedroom, 
and brought here by a band of ruffians.” 

“ Lors-a-messy on top ob my poor old black soul ! Is it 
trufe you’s a tellin’ ob me, honey ?” exclaimed the negress, 
in dismay. 

“ The truth, as the Lord of Heaven knows,” replied As- 
trea, solemnly. 

“ But what was you a doin’ of all de time, chile ? Why’n’t 
you holler murder an’ ’larum de house ?” 


202 


THB FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ They were too quick for me ! One of them stole upon 
me from behind, and clapped a sponge full of chloroform 
over my mouth and nose, and made me unconscious. Then 
it must have been that they took me here.” 

“ Well ! if ebber I heerd tell ob sich in all my born days ! 
Dough I knows what dat cholera-form, is, too ! I took it 
when de dentis’ took out dis yere back toof ob mine ! An’ 
I tell you jes what, it sont me so near to de gates ob hebben 
dat I heard de angels singin’ all trough my head 1 I did 
indeed, chile ! It de trufe I’m a-tellin’ ob you. An’ when 
I come back to this yeth, my toof was out an I know nuffin 
tall ’bout it. An’ ef it had o’ been my head, it would o’ 
been the same ting !” 

“ It was so with me ; when I succumbed to the influence 
of chloroform and lost myself, I was in my bedchamber. 
When I recovered from its effects and came to myself, I 
was in this cabin. And I knew no more of the transporta- 
tion than you did of the extraction of your tooth.” 

“ I bliebs you, honey ! I bliebs ebery word you says !” 

“ Then I hope you will be my friend ?” 

“ Yes, chile, I’ll ’fend you ! Dough to do dat, I shall have 
to be as secrety an’ ’ceitful as Marse Cap’n hisself. I shall 
have to ’tend to hate an’ ’spise you on de face ob de yeth 1 
Den he’ll let me ’tend to you !” 

Astrea sighed deeply. Deception was abhorrent to her 
very soul, and 

“ Is there no other way ?” she asked. 

“ Hi, honey, what oder wa}’ - ? How we — den gwine to 
get along wid a ’ceitful villain, ’less we ’ceives him ? If he 
t’ink I your frien’, he make me stay away from you, an’ 
p’int one ob de he-debbils to wait on you ! ’c’ase you see / 
knows Marse Cap’n ! I done cotch his bref !” 

“And now, then, what do you suppose he intends to do 
with me?” 

“ What I said furst ; honey, ither to keep you for hisse’f, 
or else to ’spose ob you to some rich gemman in New 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


203 


Orleans ! Leastways I t’ink so ! else why steal you away 
from your friends ? But you tell me more ’bout it, honey, 
den may be I gib better judgment.” * 

Astrea complied with this request, and told her new-found, 
humble friend as much of her story as she deemed proper 
to make known; in effect that she was the adopted 
daughter of Captain William Fuljoy, of the isle, and the 
wife of Colonel Fulke Greville, of the army. 

“An’ so dey stole you away, out’n your own bedroom ! 
Well ! if ebber I heerd tell of sich a thing in all de days of 
my life ! Tell you what, honey ! you stoop down here and 
listen ; I has my misgibbens as Marse Cap’n is no better ’an 
a smuggler ! An’ I ’tends for to run away de furst chance 
I gets ! An’ now I mus’n’t linger here much longer, fear 
ob ’spicion,” said the woman, in a low voice, as she took up 
the waiter and left the cabin. 


CHAPTER XXV. 
astrea’s arrival. 

Now, how dost thou look now ? 0, ill-starred wench l 
Pale as thy smock I When all shall meet at compt, 

This look of thine shall hurl their souls from heaven, 

And fiends shall catch at them — Shakespeare. 

Scarcely any discovery in relation to the captain could 
have increased the ill opinion Astrea already had of him. 
Deep was her grief for all that she had left behind her in 
the past, excessive was her terror of all that she was going 
to meet in the future. And now, added to these, was un- 
mitigated horror at finding herself in the power of a 
smuggler ! But she knew that for her, in her present cir- 
cumstances, to yield to the fatal power of these subduing 
passions would be total ruin! Again, as at a second 


204 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


demand, she was forced to rally her sinking courage. And 
now she took what my readers will think a strange step. 
She was half suffocating in the close air of the cabin. She 
resolved to go on deck, to breathe the fresh air, and to 
meet bravely, not boldly, the faces of her captors. She 
went up and found the captain on the deck. He came for- 
ward to meet her, saying : 

“ Why, now this is right, my girl ! Never mope ! moping 
never did any one any good yet ! Besides, it would spoil 
your beauty. If you have left a sweetheart behind, we will 
find you quite as good a one where we are going.” 

Astrea passed him without making any answer, and 
advanced to the starboard side of the ship, and remained 
looking over the bulwarks. 

“What? sulking? Why that is almost as bad as 
moping !” said the captain, laughing. 

She did not answer, nor even seem to hear. 

“ Oh, very well ! all right,” laughed the man, walking 
away in another direction. 

Astrea breathed more freely. She had dreaded lest he 
should follow her. But, in fact, from this time to the end 
of the voyage, he never more molested her with offensive 
attentions. His one impudent attempt to kiss her in the 
cabin was his first and last sin of that sort. Astrea, with 
all her beauty, was evidently not to his taste. He was as 
dark as a gipsy by nature ; Astrea was rendered so by art ; 
they were personally too much alike for him to be strong- 
ly attracted by her. This circumstance perhaps it was 
that saved her. 

Astrea went on deck every day ; but her manner while 
there repelled the slightest advances from any of the wild 
crew, ignoring even those little civilities, such as placing a 
seat, or raising an awning, that some of the sailors respect- 
fully offered her. 

She talked with no one but Venus, and only with her 
when they were alone together in the cabin. Venus slept 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


205 


each night on a narrow mattress laid down on the floor 
beside Astrea’s berth. No one else ever came into the 
cabin. 

Often at night, when all was still, Astrea would enter 
into conversation with her humble friend, and try to forget 
for awhile her own sorrows and terrors in ‘ sympathizing 
with the griefs and fears of poor Venus. Strangely enough, 
none of this poor negress’s troubles were selfish. She had 
left behind her neither parent, husband, nor child. All her 
regrets were therefore given to “ de ole misses an’ de chil- 
lum,” left destitute by the death of her master and the 
rapacity of his creditors. And all fears were that she 
should be drawn into sin through association with the 
smuggler captain and his crew. For the rest, her deepest 
sympathies were with Astrea, into whose bosom she tried 
to infuse hope and courage. 

“ ’Sider, chile,” she said one night, as she lay on the 
mattress beside her wakeful companion, “jes you ’sider; 
a young lady can’t be hauled off like a fractious nigger 
an’ no fuss made about’n it. Your frien’s an’ ’lations soon 

I be on to your track an’ fetch you back.” 

“Ah ! my friends 1 Ah ! my dear husband ! Ah ! my 
good guardian ! How great their sorrow must be for their 
poor Astrea ! And oh ! even if they ever find me, they 
will never know me in this dreadful disguise !” 

“ Nebber you misdoubt, honey I Dey sure to know you. 
Hey know your beautiful eyes an’ your sweet, thrushy voice ! 

1 An’ as to your brown ’plexion, honej^, that will wash out 
i arter a time ! You’ll see !” 

“Ah no! I fear not, for it seems to me that soap and 
water actually sets the color. It is deeper than at first ! 

! Ah ! it was a fiendish act.” 

“ ’Pletely deblish! Ef dey’d dyed you good, honest, 
vartuous black, like me, now, ’twouldn’t a been so bad ! 
But to gib you that ere undecent, mixed blood color ! Oh !” 

Perhaps Astrea did not consider that an aggravation of 
the offence, for she made no comment. 


206 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Have you any idea yet where we are bound, and how 
far we are from port, or when we shall arrive ?” she inquired. 

“ Yes, chile ; Cap’n don’t make no secret of it now ! I 
hear the debbils up on deck talkin’ about it. It is back to 
New Orleans we’s goin’! Dough why goin’ back there 
arter goin’ nowhere but up that little crik passes of my 
sensoriams to tell ! Seems like de whole v’yge was made 
purpose to bring you away I ’Case dis is sartan. F’om 
de time we lef New Orleans to de time we drap anchor in 
dat crik, we nebb.er stopt. An’ den soon as you fotch on 
board — whew ! up anchor an’ away back to where we come 
from I Tell you what, it look mighty rum !” 

“ It does, indeed, look as though my unhappy self had 
been the sole object of the voyage.” 

“ Dm! may depen’ dere’s more in it dan we can see !” 

“ There is ! well, I suppose my fate will be decided at 
New Orleans ! Do you know when they expect to reach 
that city ?” 

“ ’Bout the day after to-morrow, if de win’ keep fair, 
leastways so de sailors say ! An’ now, honey, look here ; 
it done struck eight bells ! dat mean midnight dis time ; so 
take my ’vice an’ go to sleep.” 

As this counsel was delivered in a very drowsy tone — 
showing that neither grief, fear, nor pity could longer keep 
awake this woman of a sleepy-headed race, Astrea bade her 
good-night, and addressed her own thoughts to prayer. 

The wind continued fair, and on the evening of the third 
day from this, the Kite entered the Mississippi, and dropped 
anchor below the city of New Orleans. 

And Astrea was locked fast in her cabin. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


207 


CHAPTER XXYI. 

WELBY DUNBAR. 

“ His tall and well-proportioned form 
The sculptor’s art might grace, 

And his heart’s glow, sincere and warm, 

Is beaming o’er his face. 

An arch and animated smile 
His lips will oft divide, 

But never doth a word of guile 
From their frank portals glide.” 

When Fulke Greville was consigned to his cell in the 
prison of Lemingham, his first care was to ask for writing 
materials to address a letter to his uncle. He paused 
long in thought before commencing this letter. He remem- 
bered that the kind friend to whom he was about to send 
it was now quite aged, was tenderly attached to Astrea 
and to himself, and would be shocked nearly into the 
grave by the sudden news of her death and his arrest. 
That such a shock would leave him in no condition to 
i travel. In consequence of these reflections, Fulke resolved 
to write, dating his letter from Fuljoy’s Island, as if 
nothing was amiss, and entreat his uncle to come down 
immediately. This was done in the fewest possible lines, 
and a messenger paid to ride in haste to Comport and 
post the letter there, as at the usual post-office of the 
family. At the same time he addressed a note to Major 
Burns, entreating him to look out for the next arrival of 
the “ Busy Bee,” and meet Captain Fuljoy, and break to 
him as gently as possible the dreadful events of that fatal 
night upon the island. 

It was the morning of the second day after the despatch 
of this letter, that Captain Fuljoy was sitting at an early 
breakfast in his private parlor, at “Brown’s,” feeling very 
lonesome and depressed for the want of his pretty Daney 
and his brave Fulke, and blasting (he was going to say) 


208 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“the new-fangled tom-foolery” that compelled a bride and 
bridegroom to run away from all their friends for a month 
or so after marriage, when the waiter entered with a letter 
on a silver tray. 

The captain seized it with avidity, broke the seal, and 
devoured its contents almost at a glance. Then he burst 
out into a good, jolly fit of loud laughter, rubbing his 
hands in the excess of his delight, and exclaiming — 

“ The young monkeys ! the spoiled children ! can’t be 
quiet even for a week ! But it is little Daney ! I know it 
is little Daney I Can’t be happy away from ‘ Grandpa,’ 
husband or no husband ! but must send and order him to 
come down immediately ! Just like my delightful, affec- 
tionate, peremptoiy little Daney ! What the devil (I was 
going to say) are you grinning at, you laughing hyena ?” 
he broke off, and demanded of the poor servant, who, in 
pure sympathy, stood, silver tray in hand, smiling at the 
captain’s delight. “ Go,” he continued, “ directly and call a 
carriage for me 1 If I can catch the train I shall be in 
time for the boat — and hey ! I say ! tell them to make out 
my bill, and send some one here, instantly, to take my lug- 
gage down !” 

The waiter hastened to comply, and the captain immedi- 
ately began to pack his trunks — hurriedly, it is true, but 
not crazily as most men do when they thrust shirts, and 
boots, and pocket-handkerchiefs, and shoes, all in one mass 
into a box, and make the lid go down upon the unequal 
hill of clothing by hard pressure and harder swearing ! The 
' captain’s long sea-life had taught him neatness, order, and 
compactness. And he went about his work as deftly as a 
woman could. But to do it more effectually he took off 
his coat, and dragged the trunks from his bedroom into 
his parlor, where he had more space. And he was busily 
engaged stooping over the largest one, and trying to make 
a coat all right angles fold smoothly into an oblong square, 
and his short sleeves were rolled up, and his face was red, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 209 

and his hair blousy, when the waiter re-entered with the 
silver tray, and with this time, a card upon it. 

“A gentleman to see you, sir !” said the waiter, as the 
captain looked up from his work. 

Can’t see him! can’t see anybody! off to catch the train 
in twenty minutes !” exclaimed the captain, without deign- 
ing to touch the card. 

“ The gentleman is coming up, sir ! he is at the door !” 

“ Blast the gentleman (I was going to saj^) — what the 
deuse does ” 

The captain’s words were cut short by the entrance of 
the stranger — a tall, stately, dark complexioned, and very 
handsome young man, who stood bowing before him with 
grave courtesy. 

The captain looked up angrily, but immediately burst 
out in a perfect shout of rapture, rushed toward the 
visitor, and seized and shook both liis hands, exclaiming, 
amid peals of loud laughter : 

“ Well, you dog, here is a go ! So you couldn’t stay 
away from your old uncle even with a young bride to bear 
you company ! But of course you have brought Daney 
with you. Where is my little Daney?” 

“ ‘ Daney ?’ ” repeated the young stranger in a respectful 
tone of inquiry. 

“ Yes, of course she came with you, and you both must 
have come in the same boat with your letter.” 

“Boat? letter?” reiterated the visitor, with a puzzled 
look. 

“ Yes, I say, you must have come by the very boat that 
brought the mail with your letter — since you both arrive 
on the same day, nay, at the same hour ! A stupid piece 
of business, too ! Can’t understand it at all ! But there, I 
won’t reproach, you, you handsome puppy ! Too glad to 
see you!” said the captain, affectionately clapping the 
stranger on the back. “But where the devil— (I was going 
to say) — have you left Daney?” 

13 


210 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Daney again ! Realty, sir, here seems to be some wide 
misunderstanding ! Pray, have I the honor of speaking to 
Captain Euljoy ?” inquired the young man, earnestly. 

“ Why, who the foul fiend — (I was going to say) — should 
you be talking to ? And pray, are you mad, or jesting, or 
what the mischief do you mean at all ?” 

“ Captain William Euljoy, of Euljoy’s Island?” repeated 
the young man, with respectful earnestness. 

“ Thunder and lightning, yes ! Do I look as if I had 
changed to anybody else, since you left me four days ago ?” 

There is some mistake, sir. I never had the honor of 
seeing you before,” said the young stranger. 

“ Now look here, nephew, if this is a joke let me inform 
you that it is a very flat one ; and meantime you are keeping 
me from my little Daney !” said the captain, beginning to 
imagine himself trifled with. 

At this moment a waiter appeared and announced : 

“ The cab, sir, if you please.” 

“ D the cab — (I was going to say) — they Ve come ! 

The young folks I was going to see, I mean ; and so I don’t 
want the cab,” said the captain. 

As the servant retired, the young stranger inclined him 
self most respectfully toward the old man and said : 

“ Indeed, sir, if you take me for any other than I am, 
you labor under a strange delusion. Pray, may I ask you 
if you did me the honor to look at my card ?” 

“ Card ? card ? Oh, there was a fellow sent up his card 
to me, but I was busy packing my trunk, to go down to the 
isle and see you and little Daney (for I had just got your 
letter, you know), and so I think I did not take time to 
look at the card. And, by the way, I wonder what has 
become of the fellow ? He was on his way up-stairs, they 
told me.” 

“I was the sender of that card. It bears my name,” said 
the young stranger, lifting the bit of pasteboard from the 
table, where it lay, and respectfully handing it to the cap- 
tain. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


211 


The old man took it and read aloud the name, 

“MR. WELBY DUNBAR.” 

The captain gazed at the pasteboard and gazed at the 
stranger. 

“ And do you mean to tell me that is your name ?” he 
asked, in a muddle of surprise, pique, and even fear. 

The young stranger bowed. 

The captain without more ado threw down the card, 
seized the left wrist of the young man and felt his pulse ; 
muttering comments to himself as follows : 

“ Calm, cool, steady ; no fever here ; no delirium ; no sign 
of madness whatever. Now let me see to my own ” 

And with these words the captain dropped the wrist of 
the young visiter, and took hold of his own, muttering as 
before : 

“ Hum — good pulse ! no faster than this present excite- 
ment might warrant 1 assuredly no indication of phrensy 
here !” 

Then, dropping his own wrist, he pointed to a chair, and 
said, more curtly than politely : 

“ Sit you down there, sir.” 

The young man smiled and obeyed. 

The captain squared himself around, placed his hands 
upon his knees, and looked the stranger full in the face, 
saying: 

“ And now Master Fulke Greville, if you are not quiet 
and rational directly, I will send out for a physician to 
come in and decide the question which of us two is mad? 
It is not I, certainly. And Pll be dashed! (I was going to 
say) if whichever it is shall not pay a visit to Bedlam ! So 
now, then, are we going to leave off playing the fool ? Are 
we going to be sensible ? Are we going to tell where Da- 
ney is ? Or do we prefer the Lunatic Asylum ?” 

“ Captain Fuljoy,” said the stranger, very gravely — “ that 
you mistake me for some other person whom I must greatly 


212 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


resemble, is already but too apparent. But that I can 
prove myself to be Welby Dunbar, is quite certain. I have 
just arrived from Paris, in company with our returning min- 
ister, whom you know was recalled for certain political 
reasons. We travelled the whole three thousand miles to- 
gether. We arrived last night. He is still in this house, 
and can identify me as Welby Dunbar, and indorse me, I 
hope, as a gentleman not unworthy of Captain Fuljoy’s 
confidence.” 

While Mr. Dunbar was speaking the captain was gazing 
steadily at him. When he had finished speaking, the old 
man took hold of his own bare, fat arm, for he was still in 
his shirt sleeves, and pinched it sharply — pinched it black 
and blue, and then sadly shook his head, muttering to him- 
self: 

“ To know one is dreaming and not to be able to wake ! 
Bad, heavy sleep, this ! significant of apoplexy ! Here, 
somebody ! Here, young man ! I know I am talking in my 
sleep ; but I mean what I say ! Shake me smartly ; shout 
loudly in my ears! Wake me up quickly, at all hazards.” 

The stranger smiled. 

“ How can I, sir, if I am a part of your dream ? Come, 
Captain Fuljoy ! My accidental likeness to some one you 
know, we will admit to be amazing ; but let that suffice ; and 
do not let your presence of mind be banished by an extra- 
ordinary resemblance between two persons ! I tell you that 
I am prepared to prove my identity as Welby Dunbar, and 
also my position as a gentleman,” repeated the young man. 

“ And neither of us is mad ?” 

“ Assuredly not 1” 

“ Nor dreaming?” 

“ On the contrary we are both of us remarkably wide 
awake at this moment.” 

“ Well I All that I can say is, that it is just the most 
wonderful likeness that I ever did see 1 the very form, th<* 
very face, the very manner, and the very voice, and — yes, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


213 


by the Lord Harry — the very mole on the upper lip ! Never 
heard of such a thing in all the days of my life ! And — • 
come to think of it, I would rather have you accredited by 
our late minister ! Mr. Armfield has known me for many 
years. We were together a great deal when I was at Paris. 
And he would not lend himself to any jest at my expense, 
I am quite sure. Therefore, if really you are not my nephew, 
if you really are not playing off a stupid joke upon me, and 
if you really are Mr. Welby Dunbar, and fellow voyager of 
Mr. Armfield, I will trouble you just to go and ask him to 
bring you here and introduce you to me himself. And 
while you are gone 1 will just brush up my hair, and put on 
my coat, and make myself presentable.” 

The young man laughed lightly, took up his hat, and left 
the room to comply with this request. 

“ Set fire to him ! (I was going to say), he has made me 
lose the train, and, consequently, the boat! And now there 
will not be another boat for four days ?” exclaimed the 
captain, in a tone of extreme annoyance, as he arose and 
proceeded to make his toilet. He had scarcely completed 
it, when the young stranger entered, Ushering in the late 
minister. 

Captain Fuljoy advanced cordially to meet the latter, 
saying: 

“ You are welcome home, sir ! I am as happy to see you 
as ever I was to set foot on my native shore after a long 
voyage.” 

“ I thank you, sir ! Allow me to present to you my 
young friend, Mr. Welby Dunbar, an English gentleman 
lately resident in Paris.” 

The captain and the young stranger bowed and shook 
hands as though they had never met before. The minister 
apparently believed that they never had. 

After a little desultory conversation, that has nothing to 
do with this story, the minister pleaded an engagement, 
bowed and withdrew, leaving Mr. Dunbar alone with the 
captain. 


214 


THB FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“And now, sir,” said the latter, “I must apologize for the 
rudeness of my speech to you, when your extreme resem- 
blance to my nephew led me to mistake you for that young 
gentleman, and to suppose him to be playing off a joke at 
my expense.” 

“ No such apology was necessary, sir, believe me,” re- 
plied the young man, with a bow. 

“You mentioned to me that you had called on important 
business. May I ask how I can serve you ?” 

“Thank you, sir. Only the most important business 
could have warranted me in pressing my visit at perhaps 
an inconvenient moment.” 

“ Never mind that I 4 What’s done is done,’ and can’t be 
undone, even when it is murder! By missing the train, I 
have missed the boat to Fuljoy’s Isle, where my children 
are pining for my presence, and there will not be another 
for four days !” 

“ I am extremely sorry, sir ; and yet so vitally important 
is my business, that I fear I still must have pressed my 
visit, even had I known it to be so inopportune.” 

“ By the Lord Harry, I admire your frankness, even 
more than I do your modest assurance! But this business, 
so important that an old gentleman must lose his train 
and, more than that, his boat, and be detained from his 
home four days to hear it, even though it is nothing what- 
ever to him — what is it?” 

“I come to you, sir, on the part of the Marquise De 
Glacie — bom Princess Astrea Caracciolo.” 

“Eh! Marquise — who? Princess — what? Say that over 
again!” said the captain, in an accession of excitement. 

“ I came to you, sir, on the part of Madame la Marquise 
He Glacie, born Princess Astrea Caracciolo 1” repeated the 
young man, gravely. 

“And now, of course, writing herself Astrea De Glacie,” 
said the captain, with growing agitation. 

“ Certainly, sir ; that at least is the name signed at the 
foot of my page of instructions.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


215 


And did Madame De Glacie ever, ever — but go on !” 
you had better tell me what she would have of me !” gasped 
the old man, breathless with emotion, and wiping his flushed 
and perspiring face. 

“ She would have only her child, Mademoiselle Astrea 
De Glacie,” answered Mr. Dunbar. 

“ There ! I knew it ! I always knew it ! or something 
very like it I” exclaimed the captain, falling back in his 
chair overcome with the contending passions of joy and 
grief — joy to hear that all his pre-visions as to Astrea’s 
rank were confirmed, grief to believe that in consequence * 
he might lose her forever. 

Then having struggled with his emotions and regained a 
degree of composure, he continued, in a calmer voice : 

“ I always felt in my heart that the little child, whose 
instincts led her to my door, was far other than she seemed ! 
Those instincts were always so delicate ! She did so shrink 
from all the coarse surroundings of her life ! and tried with 
all her baby might to escape from them, and did escape 
from them by coming straight to me 1 And she prattled, 
too, in broken melody, half French and half English, of a 
chateau, and a grand-pcre, and a flag tower ! I took her to 
my heart of hearts, and cherished her as though she had 
been my own and only child. She became the light of my 
eyes, the life of my heart, the angel of my home ! She 
called herself Daney — the name given her by her rude foster 
parents. Accident made known to me another name. I 
found among the rubbish of the cottage that had been 
occupied by the people, the lid of what had once been a 
strong casket. The plate of this lid bore the name of 
Astrea De Glacie, and when I had my darling christened 
and confirmed, I gave her that name, hoping that, even if it 
were not her own, it might some day at least be the means 
of discovering her friends.” 

“And so, indeed, sir, it proved ; though we often won- 
dered that the wretches who kidnapped her had not taken 
the precaution to change her name.” 


216 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ You see that they did ; they called her Jane or Janey, 
and claimed her as their own offspring. And her melodi- 
ous baby lips softened that into Daney, which is her pet 
name even to this da}^. But pray tell me how it happened 
that the name Astrea De Glacie guided her friends tome ?” 

“ You were in Paris with the young lady last year.” 

“ Yes, I took her there on purpose ; introduced her into 
society on purpose ; so that her name, which I knew to be 
one of the noblest in France, might attract the attention 
of her friends, if indeed she had any. I never told her 
story, because so little of it as was known to me indicated 
an origin so humble, that to have it known would have in- 
jured her position in society. I therefore introduced her 
to our minister’s family, and through them to the £lite of 
Paris, as my ward, Madamoiselle De Glacie ; trusting to 
the name alone to reveal her existence to any friends she 
might possess. But alas ! the De Glacies had long been 
forgotten in Parisian circles, or remembered only as a fam- 
ily attached to the Bourbon interests, out of favor at the 
emperor’s court, and residing therefore far away from Paris, 
in parts unknown. If I had possessed any surer clue than 
a name engraved upon the old lid of a casket, I might have 
gone in search of them, but having no other, I was not 
Quixotic enough to undertake the adventure ! Therefore 
I am the more curious to know how it chanced, so many 
months after we had left Paris, that the name brought her 
to the notice of her family.” 

“Well, sir, in this way. You remember that, though 
bearing an old French name, the young lady was called ‘ La 
Belle Americaine.’ And upon account of her marvellous 
beaut}^, her portrait was solicited by all the principal pho- 
tographic galleries in Paris.” 

“Yes, I recollect.” 

“ And that it became a chief ornament and attraction at 
every photographic house and show window ?” 

“ Yes, I remember ; and I recollect, also, that I never 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 217 

would have consented to its so general exhibition if I had 
not thought to myself: ‘ It may be one day seen by some 
friend of the De Glacies, and the family name and the fam- 
ily features, if she had any right to either, lead them to 
make inquiries, and find out all about her.* Else you may 
depend upon it I never would have allowed my darling’s 
angel face to be exhibited to all the rabble of Paris that 
might choose to stop and gaze upon it — no, not even though 
queens and princesses do set the example ! And now I 
suppose it has turned out as I half hoped, and some rela- 
tive of Astrea’shas seen and recognized the name, and per- 
haps the face, if it bears any resemblance to those of her 
family.” 

“ Again you are correct in your surmises, sir ! Madame 
la Marquise De Glacie, having returned to Paris after a 
protracted residence in Italy, happened to be promenading 
upon the Boule-varde-des-Italiens, when her gaze became 
rivetted by the photograph of a beautiful girl in a show 
window. So striking was the resemblance of this picture 
to Madame De Glacie, that it might have been taken for a 
portrait of herself in her earlier youth, but for the differ- 
ence in the costume of twenty years since and the fash- 
ionable dress of to-day. She hurried into the shop, and her 
heart beat quickly as she inquired the name of the beauti- 
ful demoiselle whose photograph stood in the centre of the 
show window. 

“ ‘ It is the portrait of Mademoiselle Astrea De Glacie, a 
celebrated beauty that turned all the heads in Paris last 
winter. Would Madame possess herself of one ? It was a 
bijou for the boudoir — that angel,’ urged the polite shop- 
man. 

“Madame could not reply at once. Her breath was 
gone. She was suffocating. The name uttered was that 
of Madame’s only child, a lovely little daughter, sole heir- 
ess of her large estates both in France and Italy, and who 
had been stolen by gipsies some thirteen years before. The 


218 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


shopman, seeing Madame near fainting, gave her a chair 
and a glass of water. When she had recovered her voice 
she inquired — 

“ ‘Who, then, was this Mademoiselle Astrea De Glacie V 

“ ‘ She was the ward of an American gentleman. I know 
no more, Madame, except that she was the furore of Paris 
last winter. If Madame is interested, she might obtain fur- 
ther information from the American Minister/ replied the 
salesman. 

“ Madame thanked the young man, purchased a dozen 
copies of the beautiful picture, sent the obliging shopman 
out to call a hackney-coach, entered it, and drove at once 
to the American Legation. She was so fortunate as to find 
Mr. Armfield within. Of him she made inquiries. And he 
promptly gave her all the information he possessed — 
namely, that Mademoiselle De Glacie was the adopted child 
of Captain William Fuljoy, of Fuljoy’s Island, in the State 
of Maryland, United States of America ; but that he under- 
stood her to be of French descent ; and that, certainly, Cap- 
tain Fuljoy, while in Paris with his ward, had made very 
diligent inquiries after the family of De Glacie ; but that no 
one appeared to have given him any accurate or satisfactory 
information. 

“ Madame then gave her reasons for making these inqui- 
ries — telling our minister of the little daughter that had 
been stolen from her by gipsies some thirteen years before 
— and of her firm belief that this young lady was that 
daughter. 

“You may judge, sir, that Mr. Armfield listened with 
deep interest to this story of a mother’s woes. 

“ ‘And you never discovered a clue to her fate until to- 
day V he inquired. 

“‘Never, Monsieur. We, indeed, traced the wretches 
from our chateau in Normandy to the town of Calais — - 
thence across the channel to Dover, thence to London, but 
in the wilderness of London we lost them ! Advertise- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 219 

ments, offering large rewards, were inserted in all the Eng- 
lish and continental papers ; and the detective police both 
of Paris and London were heavily feed ; but all in vain ! 
no intelligence of the lost child reached us ! Three years 
of this fruitless search completed my despair. I left the 
i chateau in Normandy, the scene of my happy married and 
; maternal life ; the scene, also, of my sorrowful bereavement 
of both husband and child (for my husband, Monsieur, had 
died but a few weeks before my child disappeared), and I 
retired to my castle in Italy, there to wear out in the home 
of my girlhood my widowed and childless existence. Yes, 
Monsieur, at twenty-five — for I was even a few weeks 
younger than that — life had become a weary burden ! the 
world a barren waste ! Thirteen years have passed since 
then, and now again I find myself in Paris, brought hither 
by business connected with my French estates. I pass up 
the Boulevarde-des-Italiens. I glance up at the windows 
of “ Disderi.” My glance is instantly arrested by the por- 
trait of my daughter ; for, Monsieur, I feel assured that she 
is my daughter. I hurry into the shop and ask whose like- 
ness that is, and in reply I hear the name of my daughter ! 
So, Monsieur, there can be no doubt of the fact, can there V 

“‘I should think not, Madame,’ was the reply of our 
i minister. 

“ 'And where, then, has gone Monsieur le Captaine Ful- 

j°y ? ’ 

“ * Back to America, Madame.’ 

“ ‘Ah ! miserable mother that I am — almost a stranger in 
| Paris, enfeebled by long suffering, and not knowing where 
to turn for counsel!’ moaned the lady. 

“ ‘ Take courage, Madame. Consider yourself fortunate 
in having discovered that your long-lost daughter is still 
living ; that she has been carefully brought up by an excel- 
lent man ; and that her beauty, genius, and goodness make 
l| her an ornament of the best society and honor to her kind 
guardian, and will make her, Madame, a sweet comfort to 
; yourself,’ said Mr. Armfield. 


220 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ ‘ Yes, but mon Dieu ! after thirteen years of loss to have 
found her and lost her again in an hour ! To discover her 
portrait and her name ! to rush here to get her address ! 
to expect to meet her in a day ! and to be told that she is 
three thousand miles away in some remote province of 
North America ! Miserable mother that I am !’ 

‘“Nay, but Madame, this is morbid ! You are happy to 
have discovered your daughter 1 happier still to have found 
her the angel that she is — for I can speak from certain 
knowledge, having known Mademoiselle De Glacie during 
the whole period of her residence in Paris, and to her 
extreme resemblance to yourself, Madame, I can bear testi- 
mony,’ said Mr. Armfield. 

“ ‘And what, then, would you advise me to do first, Mon- 
sieur?’ she inquired, in eager haste. 

“ ‘ Engage a passage in the first steamer that sails for 
America, and go to Captain Fuljoy immediately on your 
arrival. So you will quickly embrace your daughter. 
You have, without doubt, Madame, some male relative 
who will gladly accompany you.’ 

“ ‘Ah, no Monsieur ! I have no one but the younger 
brother of my late husband, he that is the present Marquis 
de Glacie. He lives at the chateau in Normandy. lie 
inherited not only the title and estates of his elder brother, 
but also a large funded property that would have been 
Astrea’s had she not been lost and considered dead for so 
many years. We are bad friends, Monsieur de Glacie and 
myself! I could not ask him to aid me in this search,’ 
said the widowed marquise. 

“ ‘ Then, Madame, I still counsel you to take a passage 
in the first steamer that sails for New York. Take with 
you, as agent, some lawyer who well understands both the 
laws of France and America.’ 

“ ‘Ah ! Monsieur, where am I to find such a one ? I, 
who am a stranger in Paris, should not know where to 
look.’ 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


221 


“ ‘ Madame, I can recommend you one — a young man 
who has studied in one of the best law schools in the world, 
at the University of Cambridge ; who has also spent many 
years in America, but who has passed the last few years in 
Paris.’ 

“And here, sir, our minister kindly named your humble 
servant,” said Mr. Dunbar; then continuing his narrative, 
he added : 

“ Madame de Glacie took his advice, glad, in her state 
ji of mental and bodily weakness, to find some wise counsel- 
lor to guide her. I was presented to her by Mr. Armfield. 
And being even then on the point of returning to America, 
the country of my adoption, I very gladly undertook to 
accompany her. Our minister was about the same time 
unexpectedly recalled home, and became our fellow passen- 
| ger to New York, where, upon our arrival yesterday morn- 
ing, we took the express train to Washington, believing 
Fuljoy’s Island to be most easily reached from this city. 

“We arrived here last night, and came to this hotel. 

! Madame de Glacie, greatly fatigued with her long journey, 
retired to bed at once ; while I went into the bar-room, to 
make inquiries as to the best way of getting to Fuljoy’s 
, Island. And then I learned, to my surprise and pleasure, 
that Captain Fuljoy was stopping at this house. 

“ Late as it was, I think I should have intruded on you, 
sir, but upon inquiry, I found that you had gone to the 
i theatre. But this morning, so soon as I had learned that 
you had breakfasted, I ventured to present myself.” 

During the narrative of Mr. Dunbar, the captain had 
listened with profound attention and without once inter- 
j rupting him. At its close, he sighed and said : 

“ And so my little Daney springs from the princely house 

I of Caracciolo on her mother’s side, and from the noble one 
of De Glacie on her father’s. Well, I am not so much sur- 
prised after all ! No, young man, I am not ! Something 
of this sort my heart had always prevised ! though not, 


222 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


perhaps, that she was of so very high rank. The chateau 
she vaguely remembered, poor child, was, I suppose, that 
one in Normandy; and the grand-pere, whose visit was al- 
ways honored with such parade of servants and flying of 
flags was doubtless ” 

“The Prince Cesario Caracciolo — yes, sir.” 

“ And — Madame la Marquise De Glacie, the mother of my 
little Daney, is actually under this very roof!” said the 
captain, more as if speaking to himself, than as addressing 
an observation to his visitor. 

Mr. Dunbar bowed assent, adding : 

“ As soon as Madame has left her chamber I will inform 
her of your providential presence in the house, and bring 
you to an interview with her ; but may I inquire when we 
can see Mademoiselle De Glacie ?” 

“ Mademoiselle De Glacie is But I had better re- 

serve that information for her mother’s first hearing, that 

being her right Mademoiselle De Glacie is quite well, 

and is at present staying at Fuljoy’s Isle. We can see 
her as soon as we can travel down there.” 

At this moment a servant rapped, and inquired if Mr. 
Dunbar was in Captain Fuljoy’s room, and receiving an 
answer in the affirmative, said that Madame De Glacie 
having risen and breakfasted, desired to see Mr. Dunbar in 
her parlor. The young lawyer immediately arose, and 
bowed to the captain, and retired. 

The captain remained in deep and not altogether pleas- 
urable thought for some fifteen or twenty minutes, at the 
end of which the door opened and Welby Dunbar reap- 
peared, saying: 

“I have advised Madame of your presence here. She 
will be glad to see you, at your earliest convenience, in her 
private apartments.” 

“ Oh, I will go now,” said the captain, rising to follow 
his conductor. 


THE FORTUNE SBBKBR. 


223 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE MARQUISE HE GLACIE. 

Oh ! her beauty is fair to see, 

But still and steadfast is her e’e, 

And the soft desire of ladies’ e’en 
In that mild face is never seen. 

Her symbol is the lily flower, 

Or else the white rose in a shower, 

And her voice the distant melody, 

Floating along the midnight sea; 

And she loves to x ove the lonely glen 

Keeping afar from the haunts of men.— Qu&en’t Wake. 

The young man bowed, and led the way up-stairs to the 
floor above, and to a spacious and elegantly furnished front 
parlor, where, reclining in a large arm-chair near a front 
window, sat Madame De Glacie, a fair, faded, graceful 
woman, dressed in deep mourning. 

“ Madame, I have the honor to present to you Captain 

William Fuljoy, of the Isle Captain Fuljoy, Madame 

la Marquise De Glacie,” said Mr. Dunbar, formally intro- 
ducing the parties. 

The honest old sailor bowed down to the toes of his 
boots. 

The marquise arose and curtsied gravely. Their eyes 
met, and the lady, with an effusion of gratitude, suddenly 
held out her hand, exclaiming: 

“ Monsieur le Capitaine, we must not meet as strangers ; 
I owe you more than life ; the preserver of my dear child 
for so many years ! how am I to repay 3^ou ?” 

Down went the captain’s brows again to his toes in 
acknowledgment to this compliment. 

“ Be seated, Monsieur, I pray you, and tell me how I may 
adequately prove my gratitude for your so great goodness ?” 
said the lady, reaching out her hand and drawing a chair 
close to her own. 

“ Madame, you owe me no such debt of gratiude. The 


224 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


sweet society of mj’ little Da , I mean your little girl, 

was a great happiness to me — a great happiness that I only 
regret as having been enjoyed at the cost of so much pain 
to you!” said the captain, in a grave, tender, respectful 
tone, as he took the indicated seat near the lady. 

“ Pain ! Ah ! heaven only knows how intolerable were 
my sufferings ! Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, for so many 
many years, to weep her loss, to yearn for her presence, and 
to fear for her fate ! to follow her in sick imagination through 
all the varied scenes of want, wo, perhaps, also, wickedness, 
to which her wandering life would lead her. To lie awake 
night after night for years and years, praying that she 

might be dead and safe ! Ah ! think how a mother’s 

heart must be wrung before she can pray for the death of 
her child ! But to judge how I have suffered, Monsieur, 
look upon me !” 

The captain turned a reverential glance to the lady’s face 
for a moment, and then lowered his eyes with a lowly bend 
of his gray head, saying : 

“ It is past, Madame, and you are still young, with many 
years of life before you, to be brightened by the love of 
your good and beautiful daughter.” 

“ And that I still have that fair hope, that my child has 
been preserved to me, and that she is good and beautiful, I 
owe to you, Monsieur ! Oh ! how shall I repay you ? I 
would, with my very life, if that could do you any good, 
my friend I” said the lady, fervently. 

“ Madame, I am an old man, looking for all future re- 
wards to heaven alone. And in this case, I repeat to you, 
you owe me nothing ! I have been more than repaid in the 

delight I have taken from the society of my little Da , 

your little girl, I mean ! And I ought, rather, to beg you 
to forgive me for being (unconsciously) so happy at the 
expense of your sorrow I” 

“ Monsieur, your great goodness makes all reply impos- 
sible. I will say no more, except to entreat you to speak 
to me of my child,” said the lady. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 225 

“ You wish to know the history of my adoption of her?” 
inquired the captain. 

“ I do,” answered the lady. 

The old man “ began at the beginning,” and told the lady 
all the particulars of his first acquaintance with little 
Daney, his subsequent adoption of her, his happy compan- 
ionship with her, his education of her, and so forth, up to 
the time of his taking her to Paris, on the speculation of 
finding some clue to her friends. Then the captain paused 
in embarrassment. He was the most modest of all bashful 
old bachelors ; he blushed to speak to a fair woman of love, 
courtship, and marriage ; he dreaded, especially, to inform 
this mother of the wedding of her long-lost, lately-found 
daughter; and so, in the midst of his narrative, he sud- „ 
denly fell silent. 

11 Monsieur has something that he hesitates to say to me? 
Alas ! does any misfortune lurk behind my coming happi- 
ness ? Is it well with my child ?” said the marquise, 
anxiously. 

“ Oh, yes, Madame ; it is very well with her ; extremely 
well, indeed ; she is very happy ; especially happy ; both 
she and the colonel ; for do they not call a newly married 
bride and groom, par excellence , ‘ happy V ” 

“ * Newly married ? bride ? groom V Monsieur, do you 
mean to tell me that my daughter is — wedded ?” 

“ Madame,” exclaimed the distressed old man, with the 
blood rushing to his cheeks and the tears to his eyes — “ Ma- 
dame, I beg your pardon, on my knees, for marrying my 

little Da 1 mean your accomplished daughter, to my 

nephew, without your consent. But just think, Madame, I 
knew nothing of your existence, ignorant old recluse that 
I was, and therefore I could not apply to you for your 
sanction of the nuptials. I beseech yon, pardon me I” 

The marquise gazed with surprise, compassion, and ad- 
miration upon the simple, sensitive, earnest old man. She 
generously swallowed the sobs of maternal sorrow that 
14 


226 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


arose when she found it would not be a maiden daughter 
she would clasp to her bosom ; and she took the captain’s 
hand, earnestly exclaiming — 

“ Excellent old friend ! Do not mistake surprise for dis- 
approbation, or still worse, for reproach ! What ! reproach 
you for the crowning act of your goodness ? Yon adopted, 
brought up, and educated my lost child, and you completed 
your work of god-like beneficence, by giving her in marriage 
to the most honorable among men ! for such Monsieur, her 
bridegroom must be — being your nephew /” 

“ Madame,” said the relieved and delighted captain — 
“ he is a well-looking young dog, without any reproach to 
his name ; he comes of a good family ; holds the rank of a 
colonel in our army ; and lastly, he is devotedly attached 
to my little Daney ; but still, Madame, in social position, 
not worthy to match with the daughter of the Marquise 
De Glacie.” 

“ But pardon me, Monsieur, he is ; he must be — being 
your nephew ! And now speak to me of my daughter— 
when and where was she married ?” 

“ At St. John’s church, in this city, five days ago.” 

“ And where is she now ?” 

“At the isle, with her husband, spending the honey- 
moon.” 

“ And when can I see her ?” 

“ Madame, if any other had asked that question, I must 
have answered, ‘ Not possibly for five days, for it will be 
four days before the next boat leaves Baltimore for the 
isle ;’ but your natural impatience has so stimulated my in- 
vention, that I have hit upon a plan by which you may see 
her sooner.” 

“Ah! how, Monsieur?” 

“ If you feel able to undertake a long ride, we can hire 
a carriage and pair of horses, and travel by land to Corn- 
port, which we can reach in two days. At Comport we 
can hire a boat that will take us to the isle in two hours !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


227 


“ Ah ! Monsieur, how good you are !” 

“ Good! who ? I ? Why, I am the most selfish old cur- 
mudgeon in existence ! I mention this plan because I am 
as impatient to see my little Paney as you, Madame, are to 
embrace your accomplished daughter.” 

“ Your are all disinterested goodness, Monsieur, and no 
one shall say otherwise in my hearing without contradiction. 
But now, oh ! let us start at once 1” 

“ But Madame will require some hours to pack ?” sug- 
gested the captain. 

“ Not an hour ! not a moment ! I have a few necessaries 
not yet unpacked from a travelling bag ; they will suffice. 
But, Monsieur, forgive me ! I do wrong to hurry you. 
You will have some preparations to make for yourself,” 
said the lady, deprecatingly. 

“ Nothing of the sort, Madame. I am an old salt, who 
could fit out for the Indian voyage in half an hour. As it 
is, I have my portmanteau already packed, having been 
upon the eve of starting for the island when the visit of 
your lawyer caused me to lose my train, and consequently 
to lose the only boat that will go for four days. And now 
I am very glad we thought of the land journey,” said the 
captain, rising and standing up as if silently asking leave 
to withdraw. 

“ Then, Monsieur, I will not detain you ; Mr. Dunbar 
will do me the favor of ordering the carriage and horses 
that we shall require, and I will take care to have my bon- 
net and shawl on by the time they will be at the door,” said 
the marquise, with a graceful bend of her head. 

“ And I, Madame, will be in readiness to attend you,” 
said the gallant old captain, bowing himself out. 

Mr. Dunbar followed to execute the lady’s orders. 

When they were gone, the lady called to her attendant 
in the adjoining chamber — 

“ Elise ! quick! get together every thing we may need for 
a two days’ journey and a week’s stay in the country ! We 
must start in ten minutes !” 


228 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

Iii obedience to this summons, an elderly French “ bonne,” 
in a wonderfully high-crowned muslin cap, entered the par- 
lor, and began hastily to gather the little articles that lay 
scattered about the room, preparatory to packing them up. 

“ Oh ! Elise ! Elise ! think of this ! In two days I shall 
embrace my daughter and you your nursling !” exclaimed 
the marquise with delight. 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE mother’s joy. 

I feel within my sonl a springing joy ! 

A rapture which no language can express ! 

An ecstacy, that mothers only know, 

Plays round my heart and brightens up my sorrow, 

Like gleams of sunshine in a lowering sky. — Philips. 

Money does so well lubricate all the wheels and pulleys 
of civilized life, that by its liberal application all the ar- 
rangements for the journey were satisfactorily completed 
within an hour. 

A handsome and commodious travelling carriage, drawn 
by two strong roadsters, stood before the door. 

Madame De Grlacie, in a black silk dress mantle and bon- 
net, attended by her maid, carrying a carpet bag, came 
down and was handed into the back seat by Captain Fuljoy. 
Madame Elise was placed in front of her. Captain Fuljoy 
and Mr. Dunbar then mounted two saddled horses that 
were led around for the purpose, the order was given and 
the carriage started, the two cavaliers riding in attendance. 

It was a fine day, and the freshness of the air, the motion 
of the carriage, and, above all, the expectation of seeing her 
daughter, so exhilarated the spirits of Madame De Glacie, 
that she became again, for the first time in man}?- years, the 
gay, witty, and fascinating Italian woman. In the innocent 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


229 


hilarity of her heart, she so often summoned the captain to 
the carriage window, and so flattered and bewildered the 
honest and susceptible old sailor, that he scarcely knew 
whether he rode upon horseback or stood upon the quarter- 
deck 1 

And ever after one of these sallies from the fair marquise, 
the simple old bachelor would fall back in the rear of the 
carriage, furiously blushing, and saying to himself — 

“ Egad, I must remember that I am a married man with 
a wife waiting for me up in Heaven, or I’ll be dashed (I was 
going to say) if I do not fall over head and ears in love 
with my little Daney’s mother before I know where I am !” 

“ Little Daney’s mother !” Yes, that was the charm the 
lady possessed for the honest old man. He “ didn’t care a 
bo die” for the fair, graceful, and witty marquise — but for 
his little Daney’s mother ! 

He rode on in silence, secretly invoking his Mary in 
Heaven to aid his constancy. And so they passed over the 
Anacostian bridge crossing the Potomac, and entered the 
old forest road leading through the heart of Prince George’s 
county. Late in the afternoon they reached a small, old- 
fashioned inn, in the depths of the forest, where they 
stopped to feed the horses, dine, and rest. And in the 
evening, as the nights were very light, they resumed their 
journey and travelled until midnight, when, having arrived 
at the little town of Chaptico, they rested until morning. 
At sunrise they recommenced their journey, and travelled 
until noon, when they again paused to recruit the energies 
of their horses and themselves. And thus proceeding, by 
short stages, through a beautiful, well-wooded, and well- 
watered country, they reached, at the close of the second 
day, the little town of Comport. The captain conducted 
his party at once to the neat little tavern of the Wheat- 
shcafs, where he had the horses put up, and where he se- 
cured comfortable apartments for Madame De Glacie, while 
he himself went out to seek a boat to convey them to the 


230 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


isle. In walking, down the street leading to the water’s 
edge, he met Major Burns. Throwing out both hands cor- 
dially to greet the little Irishman, he exclaimed : 

“ Old neighbor ahoy 1 where are you bound so fast ? with 
all your sails set, and going at the rate of nine knots an 
hour?” 

The little major, who had been hurrying along uncon- 
scious of the captain’s proximity, now started, stopped 
short, and gasped out in dismay — 

“ Captain Fuljoy I You here! Good heaven !” 

“ Well ! I’m dashed ! (I was going to say) if that is not a 
pretty way in which to welcome an old friend! Why, 
Burns, you look struck with consternation ! just as though 
I had caught you in some wickedness ! What ails you, 
man alive ?” 

“Then you have not heard—,” the major commenced, 
but he lost his voice before he could conclude the question. 

“ Heard what , confound you (I was going to say), what 
do you mean?” 

“ Oh, Fuljoy ! Fuljoy ! old fellow, what brought you down 
here to-day ?” cried the major. 

“ Well ! upon my word and honor if that is not a pretty 
question to ask me ! What brought me down here ! my 
legs, to be sure ! or rather my horse’s ! But if you want to 
know what motive brought me down here, why that’s a 
longer story ! My brave Fulke and my pretty Daney could 
not live longer without me, even though they had each 
other’s company. So what do they do but write a pretty, 
short, peremptory order for me to come down to them — the 
little despots ! — there it is !” said the captain, laughing, and 
thrusting into the major’s hand the note written by Fulke, 
which he had just drawn from his pocket. 

Major Burns ran his eyes over it and recognized it as the 
one which Fulke must have written from his prison, though 
it dated from the isle, and contained no hint of the late 
tragic events. The major groaned deeply as he returned it 
to the happy, unconscious old man. 


231 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“Yes, you see, young tyrants! must have me down 
directly ! couldn’t live without me ! Lord ! Lord ! how I 
have spoiled those children, to be sure ! Well ! I should 
have come down by the boat yesterday morning, only you 
see a happy accident, of which I am not yet at liberty to 
speak, detained me and made me lose my train ! and also 
enlarged my family party and determined me to come down 
by road ! But no more of that at present ! Can you tell 
me where I can pick up a safe boat to take us up to the 
island to-night ? For I assure you, never was bridegroom 
more anxious to greet his bride than I am to embrace my 
little Daney.” 

“ IJm-um-m-e !” groaned the major, in reply. 

“ What the foul fiend (I was going to say) is the matter 
with you ?” 

“ Um-m-m-e ! Captain, my boat is at the wharf! I will 
take you to the isle,” said the major, in a tragic tone. 

“ Thank you ! thank you heartily, old friend ! But can 
you take our whole party ? I have a lady, a lady’s maid, 
and a gentleman with me ! Can you take us all ?” 

“ Um-um-um-me ! yes !” groaned the major. 

“ Thank you again ! But I say ! what the mischief ails 
you ? You look dreadfully ill ?” 

“ I am in pain,” gasped the major. 

“Where ?” anxiously inquired the captain. 

“ Here, in the region of the heart !” said Major Burns, 
laying his hand upon his vest. 

“ Oh ! nothing but wind ! Come in to the * Wheatsheafs’ 
and take a mint julep !” 

“Ho ! no ! it is too deep for that ; it will do no good! I 
will go and get the boat in readiness ! Pray heaven some- 
body else may tell him before I see him again !” muttered 
the miserable little man to himself. 

“ Burns looks queer ! I am afraid he has been drinking 
hard, and is just recovering from its effects,” said the cap- 
tain, as he took his way back to the inn. 


232 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

Ho stopped at the bar for a moment to give orders for 
tea to be prepared for the lady, and while he stood there 
these words, passing between two men who were drinking 
together at the other end of the counter, reached his ears : 

“ Oh, he did it ! there is no doubt about it in the world ! 
No one else could have got into her chamber ! And if he 
didn't do it himself, what else was he doing ? For as to 
that lame story of his being asleep in the arm-chair of his 
dressing-room — faugh ! that is an insult to our common 
sense ! Who the devil ever heard of a bridegroom going to 
sleep in his chair the very first night he brought his bride 
home ! Tell that to the marines if you like 1 but not to an 
intelligent jury — at least if I were on it !” 

“ No !” was the reply, “ for even the magistrates couldn’t 
help laughing when that came out — laughing in the midst 
of all that dreadful scene ! No sir ! there must be some 
better defence than that got up, or he’ll swing for it!” 

“ Hush ! by George ! there’s the captain himself! and he 
has heard every word we have said !” exclaimed the first 
speaker, in a whisper, that nevertheless reached the cap- 
tain’s ear as distinctly as any other portion of the conver- 
sation. 

He was startled and surprised, and made vaguely anxious 
about — he knew not what ! He felt impelled to go and ask 
the men what they were talking of ; but to do this he 
thought would be rude and unjustifiable. The conversa- 
tion was evidently not intended for his ear, and besides, 
good gracious ! there were other brides and bridegrooms in 
this world than the young pair his partiality deified ! Why 
then should every thing that was said particularly concern 
Colonel and Mrs. Fulke Greville ! And the captain smiled 
inwardly at his own fond egotism. Again, the bridegroom 
here spoken of was somehow^ or other in fault, and, so of 
course oould not have been his boy ! reasoned the captain ; 
but reason as he would, there remained the undefined 
anxiety about his heart. To shake it off, he gave a par- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 283 

ticular order about tea, and went into a private parlor to 
wait until it should be served. He was soon joined by 
Madame de Glacie, who, sinking into a chair, inquired : 

“ Monsieur will pardon the impatience of a mother ; but 
when then shall we proceed to the isle — the blessed isle 
that holds my daughter?” 

“ Just as soon as the boat that I have been so fortunate 
as to secure can be prepared, Madame. By the time we 
have had tea it will no doubt be ready.’” 

At this moment a waiter entered and laid the cloth, and 
immediately afterward tea and coffee, with toast and muf- 
fins, and ham and venison were brought in. Mr. Dunbar 
joined them at the table. The meal was not quite over 
when a message came from Major Burns to the effect that 
the boat was waiting. 

“ Major Burns ?” inquired the lady, looking up from her 
coffee cup. 

“Yes, Madame ; it is not a hired boat, but a borrowed 
boat — the property of my neighbor, Major Burns, who is 
down here on business, and kindly offers to take us to the 
isle. Tell Major Burns that we will join him in a few 
minutes,” said the captain to the messenger. 

And, accordingly, in something less than a quarter of an 
hour, the whole party walked down to the wharf, where they 
found the major, the boat, and four oarsmen. 

“ Madame De Glacie, my friend Major Burns,” said the 
captain, introducing the parties. 

“ Madame De Glacie,” repeated the major, as he handed 
the lady to a cushioned seat in the stern of the boat, 
“ what, that is — that is — the same name as ” 

“ My little Dancy’s ! Yes, Madame is a relation, a very 
near relation, of my little^Daney,” interrupted the captain, 
in the tone of one who wished to drop the subject. 

The major bowed, and occupied himself with making his 
guest comfortable. 

** Major Burns, my friend, Mr. Dunbar,” said the captain, 


234 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

presenting the young lawyer as the major looked up from 
his work. 

“ Mr. — who?” he inquired, staring aghast at the stranger. 

“ Dunbar, of London.” 

“ Well ! if ever I saw such a likeness in all the days of 
my life !” he exclaimed, without withdrawing his gaze ; 
then quickly recovering himself, he added : “ I beg your 
pardon, Mr. Dunbar ! but really I was taken quite aback 
by your very extraordinary resemblance to a young friend 
of mine. I am glad to make your acquaintance, sir. How 
do you do ? Pray find a seat and make yourself comfort- 
able. Lord bless my soul alive, the likeness is perfectly 
wonderful. I should not be able to tell one from the other, 
if I were to see them standiug side by side !” concluded 
the major, sinking into a short reverie. 

“Yes, the likeness is bewildering! It quite confused 
me, when I first met this gentlemen,” commented the cap- 
tain, as he kindly busied himself with settling Elise near 
her mistress. 

The oarsmen laid themselves to their oars, and the boat 
flew over the moonlit waters. It was, indeed, a lovely 
night. The sun had long set. The full harvest moon was 
directly overhead, pouring down a flood of diamond bright 
radiance upon the calm bosom of the waters. The wooded 
shores each side were cool and green in the dewy freshness 
of the summer evening. Before them up the creek lay 
reposing in the shadows the lovely little island. 

Madame De Glacie sat in the stern of the boat, gazing 
abstractedly upon the beauty of the scene, and thinking, 
doubtlessly, of the daughter she hoped so soon to embrace. 
Her maid sat in respectful silence at her feet.** Mr. Dunbar 
occupied a seat near the centre of the boat, and the major 
and the captain sat together in the bows. 

As they sped over the waters, the captain turned to the 
major, and, in a low voice, inquired : 

“ What has occurred in this neighborhood ? What is 
this I hear about a bride and groom ?” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 235 

“ Um-me-me ! wliat bride and groom ?” groaned the 
major, visibly shivering. 

“ See here, old friend, you have got an ague ! You ought 
to have medical advice, and you ought not to be out in the 
night air !” 

“ No, I’m sure I oughtn’t ; but never mind me !” 

“ You take advice to-morrow, now will you?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Be sure you do it ; it will not do to let these chills run 
on. But now tell me, what about this bride and groom ?” 

“ What bride and groom ?” inquired the major, with his 
teeth audibly chattering. 

“ Oh ! I didn’t hear their names ; but some bridegroom 
has been behaving badly to his bride — doing something for 
which he ought to be hanged. As far as I could gather 
from the conversation of the men in the bar-room of the 
1 Wheatsheaf,’ the delinquent bridegroom had gone to sleep 
in his arm-chair on the first night that he brought his bride 
home ; and if he really did that , I think hanging a very 
mild punishment for such an insensible brute. Do you 
know any thing about it ?” 

“Nothing whatever,” answered the major, with his teeth 
going like a pair of castanets. 

“ Oh ! see here, you know, this won’t do ! it will turn to 
a congestive ague ! You must take something immediately ! 
Miss Elise, I dare say you have some brandy in your 
travelling bag! Will you be good enough to dispense 
some of that water of life to my friend here ?” 

The femme-de-chambre, with a “ Certainment avec plai- 
sir, Monsieur 1” produced a fairy flask, which Major Burns 
unhesitatingly applied to his lips. 

“ You feel better now ?” said the captain. 

“ Better,” echoed the major. 

“ Ah ! it was only the night air. Old coves like you and 
I should be careful of ourselves. And now tell me, have 
you seen my little Daney since her marriage ?” 

“ I have not.” 


236 


the fortune seeker. 


“ Nor Fulke ?” 

“Yes, I have seen Colonel Grreville.” 

“ How long since ?” 

“ On the day before yesterday.” 

“ He was well ?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ And Haney was also well, of course ?” 

“ I did not see her.” 

“ Bother, man ! you inquired after her, I suppose ? and 
can tell how she was.” 

The major did not reply. 

And the captain suddenly turned upon him, saying : 

“ See here, Major Burns ? here is something wrong ! Is 
my little Haney ill that you do not reply ?” 

“ Upon my word and honor, 1 do not know. I never 
heard she was ill ; and I have no reason to suppose that 
she is,” said the major, telling a literal truth, but a spiritual 
falsehood. 

“ Humph ! I am fidgety, I believe,” commented the cap- 
tain, settling himself to composure. 

“ All is well, Monsieur, I hope ?” said the lady, who had 
overheard a part of the conversation. 

“ Oh, yes, Madame ! except that I am an irritable old 
bachelor, heaven help me ! And now observe, Madame ! 
how peacefully the little green wooded isle reposes upon 
the calm bosom of the water, while the forest-fringed 
shores of the mainland seem to encircle the whole scene 
with an embrace ! Ten minutes more and we shall reach 
that lovely isle, and your daughter will be in your arms ! 
Think of the surprise and joy for her !” 

Her daughter ! 

The captain had been betrayed into speaking out the 
truth. Major Bur As heard and wondered, but did not ven- 
ture to ask an explanation of what appeared to him to be 
inexplicable words. 

The little boat sped onward, and soon ran up into the 
tiny cove, the usual landing-place at the isle. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 287 

The captain sprang upon shore lightly, as though he had 
been but eighteen instead of eighty — handing out the mar- 
quise, leaving the maid to the civilities of the young lawyer. 

“ I hope you will do us the pleasure of coming up to the 
house and spending the evening, Major Burns,” said the 
captain, without, however, the most distant idea that the 
major would accept this invitation. 

“I must, I suppose,” answered the miserable little magis- 
trate in a sepulchral tone, and to the infinite astonishment 
of the old sailor, who again muttered to himself : 

“ Something quite wrong about Burns ! very wrong ! 
can’t think what’s the matter with him ! going crazy, I am 
afraid !” 

But the moment was too interesting upon other accounts 
to allow the honest old man’s mind to dwell much upon 
the supposed caprices of his boon companion ; and so, 
taking the arm of Madame de Glacie within his own, he re- 
spectfully conducted her toward the house. 

The evening was still beautiful in its green and dewy 
summer freshness ; the moon was still flooding woods and 
waters with her pure and radiant light ; the island was al- 
ways quiet and peaceful in the extreme, and especially so 
at night, but now it was more than usually so ; an air of 
awful stillness and solemnity seemed to overhang the scene ; 
every one felt its influence. The captain sought to break 
the spell, by calling out cheerfully to his companions : 

“How astonished they will be to see usi How little 
people ever know what is about to happen to them next !” 

“ How little, indeed !” groaned the major. 

“ There you are again, you old killjoy ! I’ll tell you what, 
Major, you are suffering under a very bad attack of indi- 
gestion ! You’ve been eating soft crabs, and water-melons, 
and curds and whey, and deuce knows what else! and 
they’ve all fermented together, and filled your brain with 
foul vapors ! But never mind ! you come up to the house, 
and the sight of my pretty Daney and my brave Fulke will 
disperse them!” said the old man, heartily. 


288 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Um-me !” moaned the major. “ Captain, as soon as you 
reach the house, consign the lady and her companions to 
Miss Hit’s charge, and then come away with me into thQ 
library. I wish to have a private interview with you !” 

“ What ! before I have embraced my little Daney, or 
shaken the hand of Fulke ?” 

“Yes!” 

“I’ll be dashed, then (I was going to say), if I do !” 

“ Um-m-me 1” groaned the major. 

“ I say it, and I stand to it, that soft crabs are bad things 
to take ! just see how they oppress you now !” growled the 
captain, who, having arrived at a satisfactory theory of the 
major’s indisposition, firmly cherished the illusion. 

A few steps further brought them to the house. 





CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE OLD MAN’S GRIEF. 

He looked the very statue of despair, 

As if the lightning blast had dried him up, 

And had not left him moisture for a tear 1 — Martin. 

“ Why, it is all shut up and ’darkened ! And there is not 
a soul to be seen ! Usually we sit out on the porch at this 
hour!” said the captain, impatiently springing upon the 
door-sill, and sharply ringing the bell. 

Twice or thrice he rung it before it was answered. At 
length the door was opened, and Mandy appeared with a 
single candle, and a scared visage. The hall was all in 
darkness, except for that one candle. 

“ How do, Mandy ? All well ? Why are you in the dark ? 
Where is your young master and mistress ? Sitting at some 
back window, I suppose, gazing at the moon. Show us into 
the drawing-room, and let them know I am here,” said the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


289 


captain, hurrying question upon question, and, without 
waiting for them to be answered, heaping order upon order. 

But Mandy stood gazing upon him in bewilderment and 
great sorrow. 

“ Well ! why the devil (I was going to say) don’t you go ?” 

“Oh, Marse ! oh, my poor, dear ole Marse I I go call 
Miss Hitable 1” cried Mandy, rushing away with a perfect 
howl of distress. 

“ Now, what the demon (I was going to say) is the mean- 
ing of all this ? Madame, let me lead you to the drawing- 
room. There will be lights in a moment, I suppose. We 
have no gas in these remote regions, or I should soon have 
an illumination,” said the old man, as he respectfully con- 
ducted the lady into the saloon, and guided her through the 
darkness to a sofa. 

“ Seat yourself, Madame, and I will go and see if I can 
find any one. These lovers, you know, are mooning some- 
where or other, and our sudden arrival has frightened that 
negro girl out of her wits. She is but a rustic,” explained 
the captain, as he felt about among the cushions, and 
arranged them comfortably for his guest’s repose. 

“ Captain, captain, for the love of heaven, come away with 
me somewhere. I have something to say to you privately,” 
urged the major. 

“ Presently, presently, my good friend ; I must see to the 
comfort of my visitors first.” 

“ Captain, for heaven’s sake ” 

“ Now don’t be irritable I It is all from the effects of 
the soft crabs ; take care you don’t indulge in them again 
soon 1” 

“ Oh, heaven, it is you who will not hear reason ! It is 
you who will not take advice ! It is you who will pull 
down an avalanche upon your own head, that might other- 
wise be broken it its descent ! And before strangers, too ! 
Heaven help you !” cried the major, in a voice of anguish. 

“ What the devil (I was going to say) do you mean ? 


240 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


What business can you have with me that cannot wait until 
I have made my guests comfortable and embraced my little 
Daney ?” 

“ I will tell you if you will come with me into the library,” 
urged the distressed little Irishman. 

“ To the demon with you for a sturdy beggar (I was 
going to say) ; can’t you comprehend that I can not leave 
Madame De Glacie until I have presented her daughter and 
son-in-law to her ? Yes ! that is the relationship, if you 
must know ! You are aware that I always said that my 
little Daney belonged to some noble French family, and so 
it has turned out ! There, now, that is the reason why I 
cannot go with you to talk politics — or whatever it is ! I 
must wait here to present my little Daney to her mamma. 
And, by the way, where is my little Daney, and why the 
deuce don’t she come?” said the captain, in good-humored 
impatience. 

“ Oh, heaven ! she will never come again !” burst in des- 
peration from the lips of the Major. 

“ Eh, what?” exclaimed the old man ; but before he could 
answer another word, the door was burst open, and Mandy 
appeared with a red and flaring lamp, that filled the room 
with a murky light, followed by Miss Hit, who, rushing past 
every one else, ran and threw herself upon the captain, 
shaking with agitation, and crying out with anguish : 

“ Oh, captain ! captain ! oh, my poor, dear old friend I” 

“ What — what’s the matter ?” gasped the old man, now 
alarmed for the first time, and trying to stand up against 
the mountain of Miss Hit’s weight. 

“ Oh, Daney ! Daney I” 

“ Where is Daney ? What about Daney? Is she ill ?” 
cried the captain, growing suddenly pale in the red glare. 

“ Oh, she is dead ! dead ! oh, murdered, my dear captain, 
murdered !” 

“Murdered; NO,” wailed the poor old man, in a voice 
perfectly indescribable in its blended expression of conster- 
nation, wonder, horror, and extreme anguish. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 241 

“ Yes ! yes ! yes ! murdered, and in lier bedchamber, and 
dragged away and cast into the sea.” 

“ NO ! I say NO ! it cannot, it shall not be true ! Where 
is her husband ? where is Fulke Greville ?” 

“ Oh, it was himself that did it. It has been brought 
home to* his door. He has been committed to prison to 
wait his trial.” 

“ No, I say no, it is as false as h ! Haney is alive 

and well ! Fulke Greville loves her as his own soul ! They 
are away now somewhere, billing and cooing ! Daney ! my 
little Daney ! answer me, child ! where are you ?” screamed 
the captain, throwing off Miss Hit, rushing from the room, 
and filling the whole house with his agonizing cries. 

“ Miss Hit, you’re a horrible fool ! you always were, and 
now you’re a great deal worse ! ' These late events seem 
really to have deprived you of the little sense you ever had, 
and to have cast you into your dotage. To go and over- 
whelm him in that way ! You’ve driven him mad ! Listen 
to him now!” fiercely exclaimed Major Burns, rushing out 
in search of his old friend, whose sharp, agonized cries of 
“ DANEY ! DANEY !” were heard ringing through the 
upper chambers. 

“Help! help! Madame has fainted!” called out the 
lady’s maid, in great alarm. 

“A glass of wine, for heaven’s sake, quick! the lady 
seems dying,” said Mr. Dunbar, bending over the swooning 
form of the marquise, but speaking to Miss Hit. 

“ Go, Mandy, and get it ! I’m dying, myself, I believe !” 
sobbed the poor old body, sinking helplessly into a chair. 

Mandy ran and brought it, and Mr. Dunbar knelt by 
the side of Madame De Glacie, and tried to force a few 
drops between her closed lips. 

“ DANEY ! DANEY ! sounded the piercing tones of 
the old sailor’s voice, afar off in the attics above. 

It was there Major Burns found him. 

The major, who had been very much agitated in antici- 
15 


242 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


pation of the effect this blow would have upon his old 
friend, now that it had fallen, became composed. He came 
upon the old man roving wildly through the attic cham- 
bers, and calling in a voice of piercing anguish — 

>“ DANEY ! DANEY ! where are you hiding, you little 
witch ? It is very cruel of you to play off such a trick on 
your poor old grandpa ! Daney ! Daney, my child ! come 
out ! They are making a jest here of the old man ! come 
to me, my dear ! I am old ! I am childish ! I canrfot bear 
jesting I Daney ! Daney, I say I” 

“Captain! what! captain! old friend!” cried the major, 
throwing his arms around him, and trying to stop him in 
his wild run — “ what, captain ! old friend ! recollect your- 
self ! compose yourself! be a man !” 

“ Let me go ! I want my Daney ! I am famishing ! freez- 
ing, until I find my Daney ! — Daney ! Daney ! where are 
you, Daney ?” he cried, breaking from the little major, and 
running madly down the stairs. 

At the foot of the lowest flight of stairs he was stopped 
by Mr. Dunbar, who threw out his arms to arrest his pro- 
gress, and said, earnestly : 

“Captain! for heaven’s sake, try to calm yourself! If 
this be, indeed, true ; for the sake of all who depend upon 
you in this awful crisis, be yourself!” 

“ Stand out of my way, or I will knock you down ! I 
want my Daney ! And I will have her — yes ! I will have 
her, though the earth or the sea has swallowed her ! Stand 
out of my way, I say ! When I fell a man I finish him !” 
cried the phrensied old sailor, hurling the youth from his 
path, and rushing down into the lower regions of the 
house, where his voice was soon heard reverberating 
through the cellars in wailing cries of “ Daney ! Daney !” 

“ I must go after him ! For Heaven’s sake, send for a 
doctor. How is the poor lady ?” eagerly spoke the little 
major. 

ner maid has got her into bed ; she is very ill. I 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 243 

have already sent to Comport for a physician. And I will 
go now and help you to look after the captain ; you cannot 
manage him alone,” said the young man, following Major 
Burns down into the cellars. 

But the captain had already traversed their whole extent, 
and hurried up the back stairs, and out into the grounds, 
still waking all the silence of the night with agonizing cries 
upon the name of his lost child. They followed him at a 
short distance behind, to see that %e came to no personal 
harm. As to restraining him, no two men could have done 
that with the iron frame of that vigorous old octogenarian, 
while his nerves were strung to their highest pitch of ten- 
sion by a phrensy of excitement. Through and through, 
over and over, round and round the island they followed 
him, as he strode about, calling in ear-piercing anguish 
upon the name of his child. 

For hours they followed him thus, until at length they 
noticed that his voice grew weaker, and he reeled in his 
run. Then once more they attempted to lead him into the 
house. They came one on each side of him, and took his 
arms and placed their hands soothingly upon his shoulders, 
the major saying: 

“ What, captain ! what, old soldier ! you that have faced 
a thousand foes ; you that could fight a thousand fields ; 
will you yield to the effects of any affliction it may please 
heaven to send ! Bouse yourself, old sea-lion ! Think no 
more of your child ; she is at rest I Think of vengeance !” 

But their touch seemed only to sting him into new 
strength ; breaking violently from their hold, he ran on, 
calling as before. But his strength was far spent, he 
reeled to and fro and staggered as he ran ; his voice qua- 
vered and faltered as he called, and finally, when near the 
house again, he fell forward on his face, breathing forth in 
an expiring voice, the incoherent words : 

“ Daney, Daney, I can seek you no more, my child ; I 
am dying, and coming to you, my little Daney.” 


244 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

They approached him very cautiously; he was lying 
quite still. They took his hand ; it was cold and pulseless. 
They raised him gently in their arms ; he was quite insen- 
sible. They carried him into the house and up into his 
chamber, and laid him on his bed, where he remained like a 
dead man. 

“ Shall I open a vein ? I have some skill in bleeding a 
patient; and always carry a lancet about me,” said the 
major. 

“ No ; I would prefer that we should leave him to 
nature until the doctor’s arrival,” answered the young man. 

They sat, two anxious watchers, by the sick bed, until 
the doctor was shown into the room 

He took the very measure that had been previously re- 
commended by Major Burns for the recovery of the patient. 
He bled the old man ; and as soon as he saw symptoms of 
returning consciousness, he prepared and administered a 
composing draught that quieted his nerves, and he sank 
into a restoring sleep. The two anxious watchers re- 
mained in the room ; the major extended upon the sofa, 
and the young lawyer seated upon the arm-chair. 

Meanwhile the doctor visited the bedside of the lady. 
He found her sensible, though very weak, and attended by 
Miss Hit and her own woman, Madame Elise. He gave 
some careful directions for her treatment, and then retired 
to the parlors below, with the intention of remaining in the 
house until the morning. 

Of the two sufferers, the lady was the first to recover 
the possession of her faculties. There were many good 
reasons for this. In the first place, she was younger and 
more elastic in constitution; next, she had been inured 
to suffering; then, she had never, since the infancy of 
her child, been accustomed to hey society; therefore 
her grief partook of the nature of a severe disappoint- 
ment rather than that of a cruel bereavement ; finally, she 
was not without hope ; and that is a great mental support. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


245 


And thus it was that when she had taken the nervine 
stimulant, prescribed by the doctor, she felt herself stronger 
and calmer, and turned to Miss Hit and said : 

“ Madame, it was you, I think, who spoke of my daugh- 
ter’s fate, for she was my daughter, and only child. Will 
you now be so good as to tell me all the particulars ?” 

“ Ma’am, it seems to me I never can do right, do what I 
may ! You heard how that old brute of a Major Burns 
bio wed me up for telling the captain ?” 

“ No, I did not !” 

“ Oh, no ! so you didn’t ! You had fainted ! Well, he 
did, then ! he called me a horrible fool, and said that I had 
driven the captain mad ! And now, you see, if you should 
be taken worse through any thing that I should tell you, 
the blame would be laid on me.” 

“ 1 shall not be worse ; the danger of the first shock is 
past ; the rest may be very cruel, but it can be borne ! Tell 
me all you know of my child’s fate.” 

The major had told the truth of Miss Hit, in one respect. 
The tragic events of the week had precipitated her to the 
borders of dotage, else she would never have ventured to 
relate to a fragile, nervous, invalid woman, the horrors of 
that fatal morning in the bridal chamber. It was well that 
she did so, however. “ Fools rush in where angels dare 
not tread !” and often the fools are in the right of it. 

The lady lay and listened calmly to the whole descriptive 
narrative, not only of the supposed discovery of the mur- 
der, but of Daney’s whole life at the island, as far as it was 
known to Miss Hit herself — including Daney’s infancy, 
childhood, and youth ; her love, courtship, and marriage ; 
her arrival at the island ; her. supposed murder and its dis- 
covery ; the suspicious circumstances that pointed out her 
bridegroom as the assassin ; his examination and his com- 
mittal to prison. 

“And you really suppose Monsieur le Colonel Greville to 
have been the assassin ?” said the lady, with wonderful cool- 


ness. 


246 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ I do, ma’am.” 

“ Then I do not, Madame 1” said the Italian lady. 

“ But why, ma’am ?” 

“ Simply, Madame, because I do not believe that there 
has been any murder committed !” 

“ But, ma’am, consider I the blood upon the floor ! the 
violent disorder of the furniture ! the general evidences of 
a desperate struggle !” 

“ Those seeming evidences could have been easily ar- 
ranged for the very purpose of misleading investigation. 
Whereas if such a desperate struggle as they seem to indi- 
cate had really taken place, it must have been heard by 
every person in the house. Therefore, you see, it could not 
have taken place. Consequently, my child could not have 
been violently murdered ; no — she was quietly drugged and 
abducted Her unhappy husband was, no doubt, also 
drugged into that deep sleep of which he spoke,” said the 
lady, with marvellous calmness, that was due, no doubt, to 
the powerful nervine she had taken. 

Miss Hit began to gasp for breath. 

“ If I thought — if I thought,” she said, “ that there was 
any chance of little Daney being alive, I should break my 
heart for pure joy.” 

“ She is alive,” said the lady, with confidence, “ and now 
I must see Monsieur le Capitaine as soon as possible.” 

“ The captain is very ill ; the shock has nearly killed him ! 
he is sleeping now under the influence of an opiate, and the 
two gentlemen are watching with him,” said Miss Hit. 

“ Nevertheless, as soon as he awakes in the morning, I 
must be admitted to an interview with him ; for I have that 
to suggest to him which will restore him more effectually 
than all the doctor’s drugs I” 

“Ma’am, I think you had better try to go to sleep your- 
self, if you wish to be able to talk to the captain to-morrow. 
Here is your second draught ; it is time to take it ; and 
really, if you wish to be well, you must lie still and not 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


247 


speak another word after you have swallowed it,” said Miss 
Hit, presenting the potion. 

“ I believe you are right,” replied the lady, swallowing 
the liquid, and then composing herself upon her pillow. 
Madame Elise was already asleep. Miss Hit resolutely 
settled herself in the large arm-chair and closed her eyes. 
Her deep, sonorous breathing soon assured the listener 
that she also was in the land of dreams. It was long, how- 
ever, before Madame De Glacie’s active brain yielded to the 
power of the drug, and she likewise fell asleep. It was 
long after midnight when she fell asleep. Under the influ- 
ence of the powerful opiate she slept twelve hours — conse- 
quently it was very late in the day when she awoke. The 
composing effect of the drug was entirely past off, conse- 
quently with returning consciousness and memory came 
back the bitter pangs of cruel disappointment and terrible 
anxiety. But after all, sleep had recuperated her physical 
powers, and thus she felt stronger to bear mental troubles. 
She looked around herself. Her attendance was changed. 
Miss Hit and Madame Elise had both disappeared, and a 
cheerful-looking colored girl waited beside her. She sat up 
in bed, and feeling quite equal to the effort of rising and 
making her toilet, she called upon the girl to assist her. 

But Mandy, for it was herself, only ran out of the room 
and down the stairs, and presently returned, accompanied 
by Miss Hit, and bringing a strong cup of coffee. 

“ How do you find yourself this morning, ma’am ?” in- 
quired the old lady, sitting down beside the patient, while 
Mandy offered the cup of coffee, 

“ I am better, thank you, and quite ready to rise. But 
how is Monsieur le Capitaine ?” inquired the lady, as she 
received the cup from the negro girl, and quaffed its 
contents. 

“ The captain is quite composed ; he seems to have come 
to himself ; he appears to understand it all now ; and he is 
sitting up in his chair ; to-morrow he is going to visit Mr. 


248 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Eulke, I mean Colonel Greville, in his prison ; the doctor 
will not consent for him to go to-day.’ 7 

“ Will you send and inquire when he will receive me?” 

“ He will see you as soon as you please, ma’am. He 
asked for you the first thing when he came to himself this 
morning ; but the doctor would not allow you to be dis- 
turbed.” 

“ Then send and let him know that I can be with him in 
ten minutes, if convenient to himself.” 

“ Mandy, you go and tell your master that Madame De 
Glacie is awake, and will visit him almost immediately,” 
said Miss Hit. 

Mandy disappeared to do her errand. Madame De 
Glacie made a hasty toilet, and had quite completed it by 
the time that Mandy returned to say that her master would 
receive the lady at once. 

“ Will you be so good as to attend me, Madame ?” in- 
quired the marquise. 

Miss Hit got up, panting and blowing, and prepared to 
comply. They went together to the captain’s apartment, 
which was a spacious front room on the right hand side of 
the central hall, and, of course, directly opposite to the 
fatal bridal chamber, which, by the way, had been the 
temporary sleeping apartment of Madame De Glacie. 
They found the captain seated in his large arm-chair at 
the open window. An untasted breakfast stood neglected 
on a little stand by his side. He looked fearfully broken 
since the night before. He tottered to his feet to greet 
his guest, but immediately sank back exhausted into his 
chair. Even that little effort had been too much for his 
exhausted nervous system. 

But the lady approached him with looks full of sym- 
pathy, compassion, and respect, saying, as she took both 
his hands : 

“ Courage ! my dear and good friend! your little Daney 
is not dead ; there never was any proof of her death ; nor 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


249 


even any good reason for supposing her dead ; therefore, 
she still lives ; I feel sure of it ; I, her mother, who cannot 
be deceived!” 

“Ah, then, Madame, if such be" the case, if she has not 
been basely murdered, what then has become of her?” 
moaned the captain. 

“ She has been abducted, just as she was before, by the 
same parties, and for the same purpose ! I feel well assured 
of that ! but courage, Monsieur ! we shall see her again ! 
She is no longer a baby, as she was in the first instance ! 
She is a young woman with memory, judgment, and will, 
if I read her portrait aright. She will not suffer herself to 
be wronged ; she will find means of escape, or of making 
her situation known to her friends. In the meantime, we 
must advertise in all the papers of the country, stating the 
facts of her abduction, describing her person, and offering 
large rewards for any information concerning her. Cheer 
up, Monsieur le Capitaine ! I have not found my long-lost 
daughter, after so many years of separation, to lose her 
asain so soon forever. I have more trust in Providence 
than to believe that ! We shall recover her soon. She will 
be safe. Be sure of that. Courage, old friend I” 


250 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER XXX. 

HOPE. 

Hope, of all passions, most befriends us here; 

Passions of prouder name befriend us less. 

Joy has her tears ; and transport has her death ; 

Hope like a cordial innocent, though strong, 

Man’s heart at once inspirits and serenes ; 

Nor makes him pay his wisdom for his joys ; 

’Tis all our present state can safely bear 
Health to the frame and vigor to the mind ! 

A joy attemper’d ! a chastis’d delight, 

Like the fair summer’s evening calm and bright, 

’Tis man’s full cup, his paradise below. — Young’s Night Thoughts. 

But hope is slow to return to the aged. The old man 
looked mournfully at the fair speaker, saying, sadly : 

“ Madame, Major Burns has jtist left me ; he presided at 
the investigation of this mystery ; he has told me every 
thing ; and he leaves me without a hope in the world.” 

“ I also have heard all, Monsieur, and I remain full of 
hope,” said the lady, firmly. 

“ What ! have they told you all ?” exclaimed the captain, 
in astonishment. 

“ Every thing !” 

“ The — the state of her bedchamber on the morning of 
the discovery ?” 

“Yes, Monsieur!” 

“ The facts brought out in the investigation before the 
magistrates ?” 

“Yes, yes, Monsieur!” 

“ And — and — the — the — strong circumstantial evidence 
against my nephew ?” inquired the old man, in a deeply 
agitated and quavering voice. 

“ Yes, yes, yes, Monsieur le Capitaine. I know all that 
is known to any one in this house.” 

“And you still hope ?” 

“And I still hope !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


251 


“Ah, Madame, you so galvanize this dead body that I am 
back to life again ! But give me the grounds of your hope ? 
How do you get over the desperate struggle for life in her 
bedroom V ’ eagerly inquired the captain. 

“ Simply, by knowing that no such desperate struggle, 
with its accompanying shrieks, and groans, and falls, could 
possibly have taken place without having aroused the whole 
house ! No one in the house heard a sound that night ; 
therefore, no such struggle could have taken place ; and, 
therefore, the false evidence of this imaginary struggle was 
artfully produced for the purpose of misleading investiga- 
tion. This could easily be done by quietly overturning a 
few chairs, drawing away a few tables, and rending a few 
draperies ” 

“ But the spots of blood, Madame ?” 

“ Dropped, probably, from some one’s finger, cut for the 
very purpose.” 

“ But the facts brought out during the magistrates’ inves- 
tigation ?” 

“All those facts were manufactured by the kidnappers.” 

“And — the circumstantial evidence against my nephew?” 

“Mere coincidences.” 

“ Then you do not believe that Fulke Greville could have 
had any hand in this murder ?” breathlessly exclaimed the 
captain. * 

“NO!” — emphatically answered the lady — “how could 
he have had — being your nephew ?” 

“ God bless you, for those words, lady ; for I know that 
he could not have had J” 

“ Besides, I repeat, no murder has been committed ! 
This is a case of kidnapping ! and the kidnappers, to con- 
ceal their own crime, have artfully arranged all these false 
signs, to produce the impression that they, in fact, have 
produced, namely — that the bride has been assassinated by 
her bridegroom ! Listen, Monsieur le Capitaine ! to explain 
the reason of my belief, I must go back some years, to the 


252 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

date of my daughter’s infancy. My attorney has told you 
of her first abduction by supposed gipsies ?” 

“Yes, Madame.” 

“ But he did not pretend to assign any motive for the 
abduction ?” 

“No, Madame, he did not.” 

“ No ; for no one except myself ever suspected that mo- 
tive ; but a mother’s instincts are not to be deceived. .1 
knew the instigating motive and the instigating man. I 
could have put my hand upon the man and laid bare the 
motive !” 

“And you forbore to do so, Madame ?” 

“ Yes ; for moral conviction, however strong, is not legal 
evidence. I never breathed my suspicions, or rather, I 
should sa}r, my certain knowledge of the criminal to any 
human being. To have done so would have been to show 
my cards before I had an opportunity of playing them ! in 
other words, it would have put the criminal on his guard. 
But to you, Monsieur, I feel that I can safely impart this 
knowledge.” 

“ Indeed you can, Madame ! The vital interest I feel in 
little Paney would teach me discretion, even if I had never 
possessed that virtue,” said the captain, earnestly. 

“ I am sure of that, Monsieur, and so I will go on with 
my explanations. The criminal, then, of whom I speak, is 
my brother-in-law, the younger brother of my husband, the 
present Marquis Pe Glacie. I am certain that it was at his 
instigation that my child was first stolen.” 

“ Good heaven, Madame ! the child’s own uncle ! the or- 
phan’s natural guardian! He who should have stood 
toward her in the place of a father !” 

“ Even so, Monsieur, for he was a bad man !” 

“An unnatural monster, and no man ! But the motive, 
Madame ! the motive !” 

“ It was sufficiently obvious, Monsieur ! it was to get 
possession of her vast wealth ; for my darling, though she 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


253 


could not heir her father’s large landed estates, yet inherited 
a vast funded property, which, in case of her dying unmar- 
ried, fell to her father’s younger brother, the present Mar- 
quis De Glacie !” 

“ Oh, lady, lady, be sure of what you say, before you 
accuse a human being of so black a crime !” cried the old 
man, recoiling in horror from the tale that had been told 
him. 

“I am sure of it, Monsieur, although I may not have 
legal evidence to prove it. Listen farther : when my 
husband died, and the present marquis succeeded to 
the title and estates, he, the last mentioned, was very 
poor, and very deeply in debt. Nothing but an infant 
girl stood between himself and a vast funded property 
that would have enabled him to pay his debts and also 
support his new rank with great magnificence. When he 
came down to the chateau De Glacie to superintend the 
funeral of his brother and to take possession of his estates, 
he pressed us to remain his guests for as long a time as 
we might find it agreeable to do so. I, though in- 
stinctively shrinking from him, yet finding no rational 
cause for my aversion, and, above all, magnetized to the 
spot that held my dear husband’s remains — for he was 
laid in the family vault under the chapel attached to the 
chateau — consented to remain for a whjle. Well, Mon- 
sieur, three weeks after that my child disappeared under 
circumstances that led every one to the conclusion that 
she had been drowned ” 

“ Good heaven !” exclaimed the captain. 

“ It was lovely summer weather, and she had been per- 
mitted to walk out in the grounds, attended by her nurse, 
my poor Elise. They wandered down toward a beautiful 
stream of water, upon whose banks the shrubberies were 
very thick. The child rambled about, pulling wild flowers, 
filling her straw hat with them, and bringing and emptying 


254 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


them in the lap of her nurse, who remained seated under a 
tree. At last the little one was gone longer than usual. 
The nurse arose and called her, but she did not answer ; 
ran and looked for her, but she did not appear. Elise 
became alarmed and rushed through and through the 
shrubberies, crying aloud upon the name of her nursling. 
But no response came from the thick green bushes. She 
ran down to the stream ; the banks of the stream were well 
protected by thick growths of interwoven bushes — there 
seemed not a possibility that the child could have passed 
where a man would have found a great difficulty in break- 
ing through. And yet, down one little place, the bushes 
were lightly pressed and broken as if something had 
rolled down them to the water ; shreds of black berege- — 
such as had formed the orphan’s mourning dress — fluttered 
upon the twigs, as if rent off in passing ; worse than all, 
her little straw hat, with its black ribbons, was floating 
on the water. Poor Elise went distracted on the spot, and 
rushing to the house, spread consternation and horror 
through the family with the news that little Astrea had 
tumbled into the stream, and was drowned !” 

Here the lady paused and gasped for breath, as if suffer- 
ing under some overwhelming memory. 

The deepest sympathy is always dumb. The captain 
could make no comment. His impulse was to draw her 
silently to his Heart, as he would have drawn his little 
Haney in her troubles, or his own child, had he possessed 
one. But he did not dare even to take and press her hand, 
so his sympathy seemed dead as well as dumb. 

After a little while the lady continued : 

“ I cannot — no, I cannot dwell upon the distress that 
followed ! You can figure to yourself how all the house- 
hold rushed down to the stream ; how the poor little float- 
ing hat was picked up from the spot where it had lodged 
against a ledge of rocks; how all the neighborhood was 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 255 

roused ; how the stream was dragged for the body, and no 
body found ; how it was next, at a great cost of time and 
labor, drained, and still no body found ; and how at last it 
was demonstrated, beyond all manner of doubt, that no 
body had ever been drowned there ; for, you see, the stream 
was narrow and deep, and the current strong ; and below 
the spot where the child was supposed to have fallen in, 
the stream was Crossed by a high ledge of rocks, against 
which every thing that was carried down by the current 
lodged. If the child had fallen in, her body must have 
been found either at the bottom of the stream, when it was 
drained, or else lodged against the ledge of rocks. It was 
found neither at one place nor the other ; therefore it had 
never been in the stream ; and all these appearances of the 
shredded dress and the floating hat had been arranged for 
the purpose of producing the impression that she had been 
drowned. All these investigations had been made, and all 
these conclusions arrived at without my assistance, and 
while I was still prostrated with grief. But as I recovered 
from the first shock of great sorrow, and understood the 
position of affairs, I set on foot the most diligent inquiry. 
I soon learned that a fair-haired child had been in the pos- 
session of some wandering gipsies on the road to Calais. 
I followed them in person. I traced them to Calais, thence 
to Dover, thence to London ; everywhere, when I inquired, 
hearing of the fair-haired child, with the gang of swarthy 
gipsies ; but in the wilderness of London I lost them !” 

“ That is easily understood, Madame ; for the kidnappers 
must have only passed through and gone down immediately 
to Liverpool and taken passage for America,” said the cap- 
tain. 

“ Yes, Monsieur, and that was the reason why all my 
future efforts to discover my child, efforts confined to 
Europe alone, proved failures, so that I never even heard 
of her again until I saw her portrait in the Boulevards-des 
Italiens. I never returned again to the Chateau de Glacie. 


256 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

I could not endure the place. A strong conviction had 
taken possession of my mind, that the Marquis de Glacie 
had instigated the theft of the child. I spoke of this con- 
viction to no one ; but for a long time I secretly watched 
him ; I saw enough to deepen and confirm my conviction 
of his guilt, though not enough to prove it upon him. I 
saw, also, reason to suppose that he — a peer of France — 
was connected with a band of desperadoes, composed of 
both males and females, whose head quarters are in Paris, 
but whose agencies exist in every large city in the world, 
and in every grade of society ; whose profession it is to 
prey upon their fellow-creatures, both at home and abroad, 
both upon land and sea ; whose existence is known to the 
police, yet whose art has hitherto shielded them from pun- 
ishment.” 

“ Madame, all this is very shocking,” said the half-stupe- 
fied captain. 

“ Monsieur, it is true. It was through the agency of this 
fraternity of evil the abductions of my daughter were in 
both instances accomplished. And now, to return to the 
point from which we started. To prove that no murder has 
been committed, I have only to call your attention to the 
similarity of artifice in the first abduction and the last one. 
In both instances it was an abduction attempted to be dis- 
guised as a death — in the case of the infant an accidental 
death by drowning ; in the case of the bride a murder by 
her bridegroom.” 

“ But, Madame, I do not understand how it was that 
these wretches spared the life of the child, or afterward of 
the lady, when it was in their power. Surely it is but a 
short step from such a crime as theirs to that of murder.” 

“ Monsieur, I have heard that this fraternity of the fiend 
stop at bloodshed — that the rules of their order forbid it 
except in defence of their own lives. I do not know how 
this is. It is only a rumor. Paris is full of rumors con- 
cerning this dreaded, secret, yet all-pervading band. You 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 257 

see, however, by what I have told you, that all those seem- 
ing signs of assassination were only arranged to deceive. 
A strea has been carried off. But for them to ^accomplish 
this, they must have had confederates, who drugged the 
wine of the bridal pair, and afterward, opened the doors 
to the abductors. Monsieur, now that we are on the true 
track, believe me we shall find our lost one.” 

“ Heaven grant it, Madame ! This hope gives me more 
strength than all the doctor’s drugs. But — confederates 
in this house ! a house full of old and tried family servants !” 

“And no strangers, Monsieur ?” 

“ Eh ! stop ! let us see I Aye, to be sure ! there is a French 
femme-de-chambre, who came over with my little Daney 
from Paris, and also a ch^f-du-cuisine, that I was so fool- 
ish as to engage in Washington.” 

“ Monsieur, one or the other is a confederate of the kid- 
nappers ! have both detained !” said the lady, eagerly. 

“ Madame ! if you think that, I’ll be dashed (I was going 
to say, and I beg your pardon for it), if I do not have them 
both before me immediately,” said the captain, violently 
ringing the bell. 

It was answered by Mandy. 

“ Send the French maid and the French cook to me 
directly,” said the captain. 

“ Please, marse, they’ve gone, sir,” said Mandy. 

“ Gone !” exclaimed the captain. 

“ It is a confirmation,” said the lady. 

“ Yes, sir, they are gone. After Marse Fulke Greville 
was ’rested, they ’lowed how they couldn’t demean their- 
selves by staying in the sarvice of gentlefolks as got their- 
selves murdered, or took up for murder, and how they’d 
rather lose their quarter’s wages first ! And so they told 
Miss Hit ; and they packed up and tuk theirselves off in 
the Busy Bee, as she passed the day afore yes’day.” 

“It is confirmation,” said" the lady once more. “But 
where does the Busy Bee go?” 

16 


258 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“To the City of Baltimore — one of our largest seaports.” 

“ Then they have escaped us. So now let us turn our 
attention to the one enterprise of recovering our lost one. 
My attorney, Mr. Dunbar, has business that requires his 
presence in New York almost immediately. He will leave 
to-morrow, returning with the carriage and horses that 
brought us down. We will draw up advertisements, and 
charge him with the duty of having them inserted in all 
the papers. We, Monsieur le Capitaine, had better remain 
for a few days in this neighborhood, and pursue our investi- 
gations here. I can perhaps find fitting lodgings in Corn- 
port.” 

“ Madame, yes, it is better that we remain here for the 
present, not only to pursue our investigations into this 
mysterious affair upon the spot where it occurred, but also 
to afford comfort and support to one who is suffering at 
once under an unparalleled bereavement and an unjust 
accusation. I refer to Fulke Greville, my nephew.” 

“And my son! You are right, Monsieur.” 

“ But, Madame, I hope you will not wound me by think- 
ing of any other lodging, while you remain in this neighbor- 
hood, than that which shelters my own gray head ! My 
house is poor, lady, compared with your mansions in Italy 
and in France ; yet it is perhaps more comfortable than 
any lodgings you could find in Comport. I am an unfortu- 
nate wretch of an old bachelor, it is true ; but then I have 
at the head of my household, a lady of advanced years and 
immaculate reputation. Madame, I beseech you, therefore, 
to do me the honor of making my poor house your home.” 

“ I thank you, Monsieur le Capitaine. It only needed 
that I should know it would be agreeable to yourself to 
make it very pleasant to me 1” 

“ Could Madame la Marquise doubt that?” 

“And, Monsieur le Capitaine, I will leave you to repose 
for a few hours, while I go and have a consultation with my 
lawyer,” said the lady, rising and slightly curtsying as she 
withdrew from the room. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


259 


The Marquise De Glacie went directly to the library, 
whence she despatched a servant to summon Mr. Dunbar. 
The young lawyer came promptly. 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE PRISONER. 

Thou shalt not see me blench 

Nor change my countenance for this arrest ; 

A heart unspotted is not easily daunted. 

The purest spring is not so free from mud, 

As I am clear from treason. — Shakespeare. 

Early the next morning, two departures took place from 
the island. The young lawyer returned to Washington, on 
his way to the North, and the old captain, accompanied by 
the fair marquise, set out for the town where Fulke Greville 
remained in prison. 

We accompany the latter. 

They went in an open carriage, for the road lay through 
the deepest shades of the forest. The distance was twenty 
miles on the mainland, and thus it was high noon before 
they entered Lemingham. 

The prison was a common-place, square, brick building, 
of moderate size, whose grated windows alone proclaimed 
its character. It stood in the principal street of the city, 
with the court-house on the right, the market-house on the 
left, and a large hotel on the opposite side of the street. 

It was neither term-time nor market-day ; the court was 
not in session nor the farmers in town ; the streets were 
nearly deserted. 

Captain Fuljoy drew up before the jail, sent in his card, 
and was immediately admitted. He left the lady in the 
carriage, and followed the turnkey to the cell occupied by 
Fulke Greville. 


260 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“A gentleman to see you, sir,” said the turnkey, opening 
the door, ushering in the captain, and locking him in with 
the prisoner. 

Captain Fuljoy found himself in a narrow cell, lighted by 
a grated window opposite the door, and furnished with a 
cot bed, a wooden table, and a bench. 

Fulke Greville was standing at the window, looking out. 
At the entrance of the captain, he turned around, and in an 
instant was locked in the arms of his uncle. 

“ My best friend I” 

“ My poor boy !” 

These were the first words, uttered simultaneously, that 
passed between them. 

“ This visit, and especially this greeting, assures me that 
you do not believe one word of the mad charge laid against 
me !” said Colonel Greville. 

“Believe it? no 1” exclaimed the captain, indignantly. 
“ Burns was no better than a Dogberry, and has inconti- 
nently ‘written himself down an ass,’ by signing this com- 
mittal ! But let me look at you, my boy ! you have been 
here four days — four days of imprisonment upon the most 
insane charge that could be conceived !” And the captain 
raised the young man’s head from his shoulder and gazed 
in his face. 

How changed it was in those few days ! how pale, how 
thin, how haggard with suffering ! 

The captain slowly shook his head, saying : 

“ I will not do you the injustice to believe that all this 
misery is caused by your imprisonment, or by the infamous 
charge under which you suffer, or even by the impending 
dangers of your approaching trial. My brave Fulke does 
not grieve thus for himself.” 

“No, no I the Lord knoweth that. But — my wife I my 
wife ! Oh ! sir, are you aware of all ?” 

“ Of all that you know, and a great deal more be- 
sides ” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 261 

“ Ha 1” gasped the young man, “ has any news been 
heard of her ? Speak ! speak ! Has her body been recov- 
ered ? Are the assassins discovered? Oh, speak!” 

“ Sit down, Fulke. Compose yourself, and I will tell you. 
First — there is hope that she lives !” 

“ He need not have said “ sit down.” The shock of this 
announcement struck him down like lightning. He sank 
upon the wooden bench, clasped his hands togethez*, and 
strained his eyeballs upon the old man in the mute agony 
of suspense ; for his voice was gone. 

“ Now be a man, a soldier , a Christian, Fulke ! and listen 
calmly to some explanations I have to make. And that 
you may do so with the more ease, I tell you in advance 
that my little Haney lives,” said the captain, seating him- 
self beside the young man, and commencing his strange 
narrative, from the moment of his receiving the visit of 
Mr. Dunbar to his interview with the marquise ; their land 
journey to Comport ; their arrival at the island ; their sud- 
den shock on hearing of the disappearance of the bride and 
the arrest of the bridegroom ; the story told by the mar- 
quise ; the hopes entertained of the safety of the bride ; 
the measures taken for her recovery ; and finally, the pres- 
ence of Madame de Glacie in the carriage below. 

Colonel Greville had not listened to this narrative in 
calmness, stillness, or silence. His passionate love was not 
like the disinterested affection of the mother or the guardian. 
The thought of his bride’s abduction was more terrible to 
him than the certainty of her death. He had interrupted 
the narrator many times with groans, exclamations, or ges- 
tures of desperation. Now, at the close of the story, he 
was striding up and down the narrow limits of his cell, 
with the fierce, quick pantings, and the sharp, short turns 
of a tiger pacing his den. 

“ The lady waits below. Will you see her ? inquired the 
captain, arresting the young man’s desperate strides. 

“ See her ? yes, no, just as you please ! Oh, Heaven, 


262 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

where is she now ? Is she safe from insult or offence ? Can 
she defend herself? It were better that she were dead ! Oh, 
sir, do you call this well ? — do you call this good news 
when you tell me that she is not dead, but in the hands of 
lawless men ? Great Heaven ! I had rather she had been 
dead, even though I myself should be doomed to die as her 
destroyer ! Oh, Daney ! Daney ! not dead ! not safe in 
death 1 but in more than deadly peril ! in the hands of evil 
men 1” shrieked the distracted husband, tearing the hair 
from his head. 

“ Fulke Greville, she is in the hands of God. No harm 
such as that you fear can happen to her ! A woman pure 
in thought, word, and deed, as she is, is fenced around with 
an invisible guard of angels I Any man offering her the 
insult you dread, would fall dead at her feet ! I do not 
mean that her life may not perish ; but I say that her purity 
is safe ! I wonder you do not feel that this must be true 1 
I know it in my interior consciousness. Down on your 
knees, profane boy, and pray Heaven to forgive the blas- 
phemy of your doubts I” 

The earnest, fervent, inspired words of the old man, fell 
like a spell of power upon the stormy passions of the 
younger one, calming him, with deep reverence be it spoken, 
as the word of Christ calmed the raging sea. He came and 
sat down again upon the wooden bench, saying — 

“You told me the mother of my love was waiting ; we 
must not keep her so any longer ; indeed, I am anxious to 
receive her ; will you be so good as to bring her at once ?” 

“ Why that is as it should be ; yes,” replied the captain, 
rising and going to the door to open it. 

“ The devil I — (I was going to say) — they’ve locked me in ! 
This is rather disagreeable I” he exclaimed, trying in vain 
to open the door. 

“ Knock loudly, the turnkey is probably at the other end 
of the passage,” said Colonel Greville. 

The captain knocked, kicked, and shook the door, and 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 263 

called aloud ; but all quite in vain. No notice whatever 
was taken of his uproar. 

“ What the fiend (I was going to say) do they mean ? 
Will they detain me here as a prisoner, and be , hem! ,, 

“ The turnkey has left the upper passage, sir ! He has 
probably gone down to his dinner ; it is noon, you see,” 
said Colonel Greville. 

“Hem! and how long, pray, does it take his worship to 
dine ?” 

“ They have an hour, I think.” 

“ And I am to stay locked in here all that time ?” 

“ Unless you can make them hear, yes, sir.” 

“Hallo! help! here! help! Someone ahoy!” shrieked 
the captain, beating, kicking, and shaking the door. 

The most imperturbable silence swallowed up the noise. 

“ Oh, Fulke ! but this is horrible, my boy ! to be shut up 
in a place and not to be able to get out !” gasped the dis- 
mayed captain, out of breath with his exertions, and suf- 
focating also under the sense of imprisonment. 

“ Be patient, sir; they will be here presently.” 

“ Patient ! I could be patient in pain, but not in prison 

. Hallo ! help ! ahoy, down there ! are you all asleep, 

dead, or drunk ? Ahoy, I say ! hallo ! help ! here ! I’m 
smothering !” roared the captain. 

The horrible hubbub must have reached somebody’s ears 
at last. There was a rapid running about of feet — a hur- 
ried calling of voices — a rushing round, and then the door 
was suddenly unlocked, and the terrified face of the turn- 
key appeared at it, inquiring, in a frightened voice — 

“ What has happened ?” 

“ 1 What has happened V May the demon fly away with 
you (I was going to say), you have locked me in here for 
an hour !” cried the exasperated old man. 

“ But we always lock the cell doors when we leave them,” 
said the turnkey, in explanation. 

“ The deuse you do ! Oh, Fulke ! this is dreadful ! If 


264 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


it suffocates me to be locked in for an hour, even when I 
know that I can be let out the moment I can make myself 
heard, what must it be to you, when Oh ! my dear boy !” 

“Sir, I cannot feel for myself! Every selfish feeling is 
absorbed in one immense trouble — anxiety for Daney ! But 
you forget that her mother is waiting.” 

“ I’ll go and fetch her! And mind, Mr. Turnkey ! stand 
on guard on the outside of the door, if you must; but 
don’t turn the key on the lady !” said the captain, as he 
left the cell, and hurried down to the prison gates. 

In five minutes he re-appeared, leading in the marquise. 

Fulke Greville arose, and stood up respectfully to receive 
his distinguished visitor. The lady threw aside her long, 
black veil, revealing a sweet, pale, faded face, softly shaded 
by dimmed golden ringlets. 

“ Madame, I have the honor to present to you your son- 
in-law, Colonel Fulke Greville. Colonel Greville, Madame 
la Marquise de Glacie !” said the old gentleman, who never 
forgot the stately courtesy of his old-fashioned school of 
manners, or failed in ceremony even in the prison cell. 

Fulke Greville was in the act of bowing lowly before the 
lady, when she put out her hands, and taking both his, 
looked into his troubled face with infinite tenderness, 
saying : 

“We who meet in mutual sorrow must not meet as 
strangers. It is your mother who speaks to you, my son !” 

“ May I be worthy to be called so, dearest lady,” replied 
Fulke Greville, lifting her hands to his lips. 

“But you are much more than worthy — being his 
nephew !” replied the marquise, turning upon the old man 
a look full of confidence and affection ! 

“Ah, if it were not for Mary in heaven, and my own 
eighty years !” murmured the tender-hearted old tar, as he 
seated himself on the side of the cot bedstead. 

So much of human absurdity mingles with men’s holiest 
emotions. 


,THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 265 

“And oh I to reflect that in addition to the sorrow of 
your bereavement you suffer the shame of this false, mad 
accusation !” said the lady, tenderly, as she placed herself 
upon the wooden bench, and motioned her son-in-law to 
take a seat by her side. 

“Yes! that is just what he calls it, Madame! a ‘mad 
accusation I’ ” assented the Captain, gruffly. 

“ Then you, even before you knew me, never believed it !” 
said Colonel Greville, turning to the lady. 

“ Believed it ! No ! Did any one really believe ?” 

“ That is not possible, Madame ! Even Burns, the magis- 
trate that sent him to prison, could not have credited the 
charge. But you see, as you said yourself, Madame — • 
moral conviction is not legal evidence — and the magistrate 
was obliged to act in accordance with the evidence before 
him, and not with the convictions within him !” grumbled 
the old man. 

“ And so a jury may be compelled to act ! who knows ?” 
remarked Fulke Greville. 

“ When does the court meet, Monsieur ?” inquired the 
marquise. 

“ Not for two months, Madame.” 

“ Ah ! long before that time we shall have recovered our 
child !” exclaimed the mother. Then turning to Colonel 
Greville, she asked — “ Monsieur le Capitaine has told you 
the facts upon which I found these hopes ?” 

“ Yes, dear Madame.” 

“ We must now, then, talk not of a defence that will 
scarcely be needed; but of the means of releasing you 
from confinement. Monsieur le Capitaine,” she said, ad- 
dressing the old sailor, “ should we go together to the ma- 
gistrate, and should I, the mother of the missing girl, make 
the same representations to him that I have made to you, 
would he not believe me and release my son upon bail ?” 

The old man dropped his head upon his hand in painful 
thought for a few moments, and then replied : 


266 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ I do not know I Old Burns is a perfect incarnation of 
unjust justice. There is no telling what he will suppose to 
be his duty, but whatever he does think it, that he will do 
and nothing else ! But most certainly we will make the 
effort, Madame, and just as soon as the major returns from 
Creekhead, where he went directly after his interview with 
me.” 

“ Ah ! when will that be ? It is terrible for my son to 
remain here.” 

“ He said this evening possibly, or else to-morrow cer- 
tainly.” 

“ This evening possibly 1 Then, Monsieur, let us not lose 
the chance of seeing him this evening. If he should listen 
to us favorably, the order for our son’s release may be for- 
warded immediately, so that he need not spend another day 
in prison.” 

“As you please, Madame. We can take Burnstop on 
our way home.” 

“ Then we have certainly no time to spare ! Fulke Gre- 
ville, my son, we leave you only to serve you !” said the 
lady, rising and folding her mantle around her. 

The captain rapped on the door to summon the turnkey, 
who was on guard on the outside. He found no difficulty 
in getting out this time. The door was immediately opened. 
The captain and the marquise took an affectionate leave 
of the prisoner and departed on their mission. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


267 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

BURNSTOP. 

Yes ! there thou art upon the hill, 

By waving poplars circled still, 

Old house I that time hath deigned to spare 
Mid sunny slopes and gardens fair. 

The woodbine through the casement peeping, 

The pampered cat on cushion sleeping, 

The pleasant haunt with books o’erspread, 

The antique chairs, the curtained bed. — Mrs. Sigourney. 

They ordered the coachman not to spare the horses, 
which were now refreshed by food and rest, and quite 
ready for the road again. 

They drove rapidly through the intervening wooded 
valley, and late in the afternoon began to ascend the low 
range of hills that skirted the creek, and upon the summit 
of which was situated the farm of Burnstop. 

The sun was setting when their carriage drew up before 
the house. 

It was a long, low edifice of gray stone, built upon the 
top of the hill, and deeply shaded with great forest trees. 

A grass-grown, elm-shaded old avenue led from the front 
gate straight up to the front door, which was sheltered by 
a rustic porch of timber with the bark on, overgrown with 
vines. 

The lady and the captain alighted before this door, which 
was, as usual at country houses in old Maryland, wide open, 
giving a vista straight through the hall to the back door, 
which was also open, affording a view of a green lawn, 
planted here and there with flowering shrubs. 

“ I don’t see any one about ! And there are no bells in 
the house, and no knocker on this door. Very different, 
this, from your Italian palazzo and French chateau, 
Madame !” 

“Xo, Monsieur; some of our houses are also neglected,” 
replied the lady, courteously. 


268 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


The old man applied his own hard knuckles to the old 
oaken door with such effect, that a negro boy made his 
appearance from the back premises to answer the appeal. 
This was a remarkable specimen of the very stupid, not to 
say idiotic, country negro. 

“ Has your master returned home ?” demanded the cap- 
tain. 

“ Y-e-s, s-i-r,” drawled the boy. 

11 Go and tell him that Captain Fuljoy is here, and wishes 
to see him immediately. ” 

“ Y-es, s-ir,” answered the boy, but without stirring from 
the spot. 

“ Well, why the d — (I was going to say) don’t you go 
along ! Hurry, hurry, you sleepy fellow I” 

“Y-e-s, s-i-r,” repeated the boy, rooted to the floor. 

“ Why, you little black imp, what do you mean by stand- 
ing there, and looking me in the face, and saying, 4 Yes, 
sir,’ and not going? Fly away with you ! Vanish ! Tell 
Major Burns that Captain Fuljoy is waiting to see him ! 
run 1” 

“ I darn’t, sir 1” wailed the lad. 

“ Darn’t ! Why darn’t you ? Are you crazy ? I believe 
you are ! Go directly !” 

“ ’Deed I darn’t, sir ; Miss ’Nellopy won’t let me ; no 
more won’t Miss Etty.” 

“ What’s the reason ? Why won’t they let you ? What 
the mischief does it mean ?” 

“ I darn’t sturbe marster, sir — he’s a-dyin’ J” whimpered 
the child. 

“ Dying !” echoed the captain, starting back like one who 
had received a blow, while Madame de Glacie came to his 
side, and looked with wondering eyes from him to the boy. 

“Dying! did you say dying?” repeated the captain, 
stooping and looking the boy in the face. 

“Y-e-s, s-i-r,” sobbed the child, bursting into tears at the 
sound of his own words. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


269 


“ Madame, take this chair and rest yourself, while I go 
to find out the truth of this. It is of no earthly use to 
question this poor simpleton. I know where the major’s 
room is, and will seek him there,” said the captain, placing 
an old-fashioned, home-made, chip-bottomed arm-chair for 
the visitor’s accommodation. 

The lady sat down in the hall, while the captain went 
slowly and softly up the stairs, and rapped lightly at the 
door of a front room on the right hand. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE DEATH OF MAJOR BURNS. 

The sceptered king, the burthened slave, 

The humble and the haughty die ; 

The high, the low, the base, the brave, 

In dust, without distinction, lie. 

The prince who kept the world in awe, 

The judge whose dictate fixed the law, 

The rich, the poor, the great, the small, 

Are levelled; death confounds them all. — Guy's Fables. 

The door was opened by a little bit of a dried up and 
withered old woman, with a very dark skin, and very black 
eyes and hair. 

She was Miss Penelope Pinchett, the housekeeper and 
nurse of the old bachelor. 

She came out silently, closing the door after her,, and put- 
ting her handkerchief to her eyes. 

“ What is this that Bobbin tells me, Miss Penelope ? Is 
the major really ill ?” inquired the captain. 

“01i, is it you, Captain Fuljoy? I thought it was the 
doctor, first,” said the little old lady, taking the handker- 
chief from her face, and looking with red eyes up to the 
visitor. 

“ You see that it is I. I hope the major is not seriously 
ill?” 


270 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Oh, captain, I am so glad you have come. I would have 
sent for you, only I thought you were not able to leave 
home. I hope you are better, sir,” 

“ I am better ; but the major ? I hope he is not seriously 
ill ?” 

“ Oh, sir, he is dying, there is not a hope in the world,” 
said Miss Penelope, taking the old man’s arm, and leading 
him away to the window at the front of the passage, where 
they sat down upon two chairs. 

“ What is the matter with him ? When did he return 
from Creekhead ? Has he over-exerted himself by the 
journey?” inquired the captain, hurrying question upon 
question, after the manner of all excited people. 

Miss Penelope replied to all in a few words : 

“ He never went to Creekhead at all. He came from 
your house yesterday morning, and complainjed of feeling 
a little unwell ; but went on with his preparations for the 
ride, because his business at the Head was very important. 
But his indisposition increased faster than his preparations 
went on ; and so before he could get ready to go, be found 
himself compelled to give up his journey. He retired to 
bed early ; became so extremely ill in the night that we 
had to send for a doctor. He left the patient at noon, 
but promised to be back again this evening. I thought that 
you were he.” 

“ What is the nature of his malady ?” inquired the captain. 

“ Cholera,” sobbed the housekeeper. 

“ There, I knew it , He always would eat soft crabs, and 
he had just as well eat fried spiders ! and they are sea spi- 
ders, and nothing else ! Let any one look through a micro- 
scope at a spider, and see if they could tell it from a crab 1 
or through an inverted telescope at a crab, and see if they 
could tell it from a spider ! I would as soon eat a baked 
tarantula ! But I hope it is not so serious with him as you 
think it, Miss Penelope. Can I see him ?” 

“ Yes, you can see him, sir ; it will do him no harm to 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


271 


see you ; he is past being hurt now; he is sinking fast,” 
said the housekeeper, leading the way to the chamber door, 
opening it, and admitting the visitor. 

The room was in semi-darkness, the sun having some 
time set, and the lamps being not yet lighted. 

The poor little major lay extended upon his bed in the 
collapsed stage of his mortal malady — his frame sunken, 
his face blue, and his breath short. 

At the side of the bed knelt poor Etty, her black hair in 
wild disorder, her face buried in the quilt, stifling her sobs 
as best she could. 

“ I am very sorry to see you in this state, old friend,” 
said the captain, approaching the bedside. 

“ Eh ? what ? you a sailor, and sorry to see a poor old 
weather-beaten craft approaching port?” said the major, in 
a faint voice, and with a feeble attempt to smile. 

The captain did not reply. His first kind impulse was 
to say, “ It has not come to that yet!” but then he knew 
that it had come to that; and to deceive a dying man 
about his state was cruel, even if in such a case deception 
were possible. So the captain remained silent. 

“ I am glad you have come, neighbor — very glad ! You 
will attend to affairs hereafter — after I am in port. These 
distracted women don’t seem to know what they are about,” 
said the dying man, speaking with much difficulty. 

“ Do as you like with me ; order me about, old friend ; 
(I came to you on another matter, but let that pass ; you 
are in no condition to attend to it,”) murmured the old 
man, sotto voce. 

The sufferer did not seem to catch these last, low- 
breathed words. He continued : 

“I made my will some time ago. I have left my old 
servants free ; and my old house to Etty ; but the house 
rent will not support her, poor child.” 

“ Leave Etty to me ; I will take care of Etty,” said the 
captain, who, in the largeness of his heart, would have 
adopted all the orphans of a devastating war, if necessary. 


272 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Good old neighbor, I thank you, but that must not 
be. Etty has a relation who has greater claims upon her ; 
a grandmother who has neglected her a long time, but 
who has at length remembered and written to her. The 
letter was written a week ago — fortunately, as it turns out, 
we know where to send her.” The dying man paused to 
recover his breath, and then continued, though in a feeble 
tone : 

“When I am put to bed finally — Miss Penelope must 
take Etty to New York, and deliver her up to her grand- 
mother. Then — if you desire it — as you can’t have Etty — 
you may — if you wish — adopt Miss Penelope, who will be 
without a home.” 

The captain was quite startled by this proposition, for if 
there was one thing in the world he was afraid of, it was 
the hatchet face of this sharp little woman ; but this feel- 
ing was succeeded by one of pure compassion for the 
homeless creature ; so his answer partook of his first 
fright and his subsequent benevolent courtesy : 

“ Eh ! what ! adopt Miss Penn ? — Lord bless my soul 
alive! Oh, to be sure! certainly! with the greatest 
pleasure.” 

“ No, I thank you, captain ! And I am very much obliged 
to you, major ; but I won’t be separated from the child ! I 
have been with her ever since her mother died, and I won’t 
leave her now ; whoever takes Etty will have to take me 
too. If the venerable Mrs. what’s-lier-name, for I never 
can remember it, wants her grandchild, she will have to 
put up with me too,” interrupted the housekeeper. 

“ I dare say she will 1 I dare say she will ! Be quiet, 
Miss Penn; don’t excite yourself; but only remember that 
when you get tired of your city home, my country house is 
always open,” said the captain, much relieved. 

The limbs of the dying man grew icier, his face grayer, 
his pulse slower, his breathing shorter. 

The captain’s sorrow and anxiety became poignant and 


T H E FOR T IT N E SEE K E R . 


273 


insupportable. It was terrible to him to see a fellow-crea- 
ture go out of this world unattended by the prayers of the 
church ; so he ventured to whisper : 

“ Would you not like to see a clergyman, Major Burns?” 

“ Why? No clergyman can attend me upon this journey. 
My soul must go alone to its Maker !” replied the dying 
man. 

“Our minister has been sent for ; I expect him every 
minute,” whispered Miss Penelope. 

And the words were scarcely uttered when there came a 
rap at the door, and the Reverend Mr. Allen was announced. 

The minister entered the sick room, bowing gravely in 
turn to its inmates, and then advanced to the bedside of 
the sufferer. 

The captain and the housekeeper discreetly withdrew, 
leaving the minister alone with his patient. 

On the stairs the captain paused and said to the house- 
keeper : 

“ I have a lady waiting down-stairs — Madame de Glacie.” 

“ I have heard the major, poor man, speak of her,” inter- 
rupted Miss Penelope, suspending her weeping in the excess 
of her curiosity. “Little Daney’s mamma! how very re- 
markable. And so she is really in this house ?” 

“And stands in need of refreshment, having ridden from 
the ferry to Lemingham, and from Lemingham to this place, 
without breaking her fast,” repeated the old man. 

“A distance of twenty miles each way! Forty miles 
without eating any thing ! And our dinner has been over 
for three hours ! But I will have half a dozen young 
chickens broiled directly ! It will take no time at all !” ex- 
claimed the little body, flying down-stairs and out of the 
back door to give her orders, without having more than 
glanced at the strange lady that so keenly excited her 
interest. 

The captain murmured, as he watched her disappearance: 

“ Poor little creature ! It is a good little soul, after all.” 

17 


274 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


The marquise arose and advanced to meet him, inquiring 
anxiously — 

“And Monsieur le Magistrate ?” 

“ Is dying, Madame ! It was no time to speak to him of 
our own affairs, deeply as they interest us ! We must try 
the other man I” 

“And he, Monsieur ?” 

“ His name is Erlingford. A new man, and from what I 
can gather, either for some unknown reason unfriendly to 
Greville, or else, perhaps, only anxious to prove his zeal for 
the administration of justice by great severity.” 

“ Then there is little to be expected from him, Monsieur.” 

“ In the way of mercy, but very little. After hearing 
what we have to communicate, however, he may deem it but 
just to release Greville upon bail. We shall see ; earlier in 
our acquaintance you bade me hope against hope, Madame. 
I counsel you now to ‘reck 3^our own read,’ as the Scotch 
say.” 

“ Monsieur ?” 

“ I mean — to follow your own maxim, and hope for the 
best.” 

The conversation, that had gone on slowly and at inter- 
vals, was here interrupted by Miss Pinchett, who came back 
to conduct Madame de Glacie to a bedchamber, where she 
might lay off her bonnet and arrange her hair before 
luncheon was served. 

Meantime, the captain walked up and down the hall in 
moody silence. 

Thus half an hour passed, at the end of which the mar- 
quise re-entered the hall, followed by Miss Pinchett, who 
invited the old man to accompany them to the dining-room, 
where the luncheon was spread. They sat down to the 
table, but, fatigued and exhausted as they were, having 
ridden nearly forty miles since morning without having 
broken their fast, they cquld not eat freely ; the presence 
of death in the house had destroyed their appetites. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 275 

When the ill-favored meal was over, the captain turned 
to the lady, and said : 

“ Madame, it is no^ much too late to call upon Mr. Er- 
lingford. But if } r ou are sufficiently rested and refreshed, I 
will now take you back to the isle. After which I shall 
have to return here to watch the night out beside my old 
friend. And to-morrow, Madame, we will seek Mr. Erling- 
ford.” 

The lady silently bowed acquiescence, and arose to pre- 
pare for their departure. 

Miss Piuchett brought her her bonnet and mantle. The 
captain placed her in the carriage, and they drove to the 
shore, where the ferry-boat waited to take them to the isle. 

On reaching home, the captain consigned the lady to the 
special attention of Miss Powers, explained the imminent 
necessity of his return to Burnstop, and set out immedi- 
ately. On his arrival, he was met by the clergyman who 
had been in attendance upon the patient. 

“ How is he ?” inquired the old man. 

“At rest. He died half an hour since.” 

The captain uttered a deep groan, and sank down into 
the nearest chair. Death is always overwhelming to the 
sensitive ; and the big, brave, old sailor was sensitive as a 
woman where his affections and friendships were concerned. 

“ I am compelled to leave the house immediately, having 
several more sick calls to make to-night. There is a great 
deal of illness about ! But I must entreat you to remain 
here, and take the direction of affairs, if possible.” 

“ Such is my intention. But the little one ? the poor, 
desolate child, where is she ?” 

“ Miss Pinchett has taken her off to some distant part 
of the house, and is trying to calm her grief. I hope she 
will succeed. The grief of children is very transient. 
They cry themselves to sleep, and forget every thing. 
And now, sir, I must bid you good-night. If I can be of 
service to-morrow, let me know.” 


270 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


And so, with a bow, the clergyman went away. 

The captain watched by the remains of his friend that 
night. 

The next morning he made all the arrangements for the 
funeral, which took place on the third day. 

It was not until after the funeral that Captain Fuljoy 
took Madame de Glacie to see Mr. Erlingford. 

Their errand was unsuccessful. 

The young magistrate listened politely to the statement 
of the marquise and to the arguments of the captain, 
which, as they have already been laid before the reader, 
need not be repeated here. 

At their close, he remarked : 

“ All these circumstances are matters for the future con- 
sideration of a jury ; they cannot affect my duty as a ma- 
gistrate.” 

“ But the d — (I was going to say) — can you not see, sir, 
that had this evidence been laid before the justices at the 
preliminary investigation, this charge against Colonel Gre- 
ville never could have stood, and his committal to prison 
never have been made out ?” exclaimed the exasperated 
captain. 

“ There I totally differ with you, sir ; we should have 
committed him to prison to await his trial, all the same, 
and 16ft it to a jury to decide upon the evidence, pro and 
con. This has been done, and cannot now be undone,” re- 
plied Mr. Erlingford, coolly. 

“ I am aware that the wrong done to Colonel Greville 
cannot be wholly undone ; that it is to some extent irre- 
parable ; that for one thing, having been once committed, 
no matter how unjustly, he will have to stand his trial ; and 
that even you have no power to prevent it ; but what I ask 
of you is, that in consideration of the information we have 
just given you, you will release Colonel Greville upon his 
entering into a recognizance for his appearance at court. 
I am willing, on my part, to give bail to the amount of an 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


277 


hundred thousand dollars, if necessary ; and this lady, I 
am sure, will offer as much more,” said the captain, ear- 
nestly. 

“ Oh, yes, Monsieur le Magistrate ! to my whole fortune’s 
worth.” 

“ Sir, and Madame, I regret to refuse you ; hut a pris- 
oner committed upon the charge of murder is not a proper 
subject for bail. And, to be quite plain with you, no amount 
of money in the universe should bail him.” 

It w T as easy to see that all argument would be quite una- 
vailing with this man. And, with a sigh of disappoint- 
ment from the marquise, and a grunt of disgust from the 
captain, the visitors arose and took their departure. 




CHAPTER XXXIY. 
astrea’s purchaser. 

“The vossel in the hr Kid lagoon 
Lay mo -red with idle sail ; 

She waited for the rising moon, 

And for the evening gale. 

“ Odors of orange-flowers and spice 
Reached her from time to time, 

Like airs that breathe from Paradise 
Upon a world of crime.” 

Astrea was locked in her cabin and attended only by Ve- 
nus. Venus was always let in by the captain, who carefully 
locked the door upon her and kept the key while she re- 
mained, and let her out again himself and locked the door 
after she had left. Thus passed several days while the 
ship remained at anchor some miles below the city. 

Astrea found this suspense as terrible as any part of her 
voyage. She had firmly resolved that as soon as she should 
be taken on shore, she would make her real situation known 


278 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


to the first persons she should meet, and through them 
claim the protection of the magistrates. And thus she 
looked forward to the hour of her landing as to that of her 
liberty. 

But many more days passed, and still she remained con- 
fined to the cabin of the ship, and still the ship continued 
at anchor far below the city. 

She questioned her sable attendant — 

“ Why do we remain so long here, Venus V ’ 

“ Hi, chile, what you ax me for ? How I know ? Might’s 
well ax de main mas’. Tell yer de cap’n nebber tell me 
nuffin.” 

“But surely, Venus, you ean form some idea.” 

“ Hi, honey, how I gwine form ideas ? I nebber went to 
school. I don’t know nuffin ’t all ’bout it,” persisted the 
girl, who was evidently in a non-committal, know-nothing 
humor. 

Astrea had known her long enough to understand this 
occasional caprice, as well as how to manage it. She said : 

“ I know all you say is the truth, Venus ; but I know 
also that you have a great deal of shrewdness ” 

“ What dat, chile V' 

“Intelligence, sense.” 

“ Yes, honey, ole marse, Lord bless him, used to say how 
I was uncommon sensorious ; but if I is, I nebber brags 
’bout it. I aint wain ; I scorns to be 1” 

“Well then, with all your good sense you must have 
divined the captain’s motive for keeping us here.” 

“ But hi, honey, de cap’n’s motive ainfr diwine at all ; it’s 
more like debilish ; dere aint nuffin ’tall diwine about he ; 
nor ’ligious, nor rev’rent, nor nuffin ; so how I find out what 
aint dere ?” 

“ But,” said Astrea, changing her phraseology to suit the 
capacity of her interlocutor, “ if you do not know why he 
lingers Imre, what do you think ?” 

“ Well, honey, I tell you, I spectorate how he is awaiting 
for de oders,” whispered the woman. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 279 

“ The others ! what others ?” 

“ Dere now, dat all; de oders /” repeated Yenus, mys- 
teriously 

“ But who are the others ?” persisted Astrea. 

“ Well dere, I don’t know nuffin ’t all about dem.” 

“But what do you think , then?” inquired Astrea, coax- 
ingly. 

“ Tell you, honey, I don’t know nuffin ’bout ’em ; I don’t 
think nuffin ’bout ’em, and I don’t even spectorate nuffin 
’bout dem, dere ! You see, chile, I darn’t do it ; leas’ said, 
soones’ mended ! You may see ’em yourself some day,” 
said Yenus, more mysteriously than before. 

And this, in fact, was all that could be got out of the 
woman. 

But Astrea’s suspense was nearly over. 

The next morning an incident occurred that put her in 
possession of some idea as to her final destination. 

It was about eight o’clock in the morning when Yenus, 
as usual, brought in her breakfast. She sat it down on the 
table, and then going to the side of Astrea, whispered : 

“ Somefin gwine happen, honey ; cap’n gone on shore in 
de big boat ; mate keepin’ de cabin door.” 

“ The captain gone on shore ? Gone to the city ?” asked 
Astrea, who, in every incident, hoped that a step was made 
toward her release. 

“No, honey, la! we long way from de city; no, honey, 
he gone on shore, right straight to de cypress swamp ; dat 
all I know.” 

Yarious conjectures were hazarded by Astrea, as to the 
captain’s errand, but none seemed satisfactory to herself 
or her attendant ; and at last, the slight meal being over, 
Yenus took up the waiter and carried it away, whispering, 
as she departed : 

“ I watch, honey ; I watch wid all de eyes I got ; and 
when I bring your dinner I let you know all I fine out.” 

When Yenus left the cabin, Astrea fell into deep and dis- 


280 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


tressing thought. All her hopes of escape had been based 
upon the event of, her landing in the crowded city, and 
seeing people to whom she could appeal. 

But how if she w'ere landed in the wilderness ? 

Exhausted by distracting thought, Astrea at length threw 
herself upon her berth, and turned her face to the little win- 
dow at the back of it, to catch a breath of fresh air. The 
little window was open, but a slight muslin curtain drawn 
before it concealed the occupant of the berth from the eyes 
of any person outside on the starboard side of the lower 
deck. 

While the captive lay thus, she heard the splash of oars, 
and looking out between the corners of the curtain and the 
side of the window, she saw a boat come up to the side of 
the ship, and the captain, accompanied by a stranger, leave 
the boat and come on board. 

They walked arm-in-arm up and down that side of the 
deck, conversing in a low tone. Their words were, how- 
ever, audible to the acute ears of her who was certainly the 
most interested in the purport of their conversation. 

They seemed to be continuing a subject which they had 
commenced some time previous ; and that subject was that 
of the captive, now the unseen and unsuspected hearer. 

“ Good-looking, you say ?” inquired the voice of the 
stranger. 

“ Beautiful — that is, according to your idea of beauty ! 
I do not affect these dark charmers myself! This one is 
of middle size, exquisitely proportioned ; form full, but 
slender and supple ; limbs rounded, but taj^ering and grace- 
ful ; head small and elegant ; features regular ; complexion 
clear, pale olive ; hair and eyebrows raven black ; eyes 
large, dark blue, fringed with long, heavy black lashes. 
How do you like the portrait ?” answered the captain. 

“ I would rather see the girl,” replied the stranger. 

“ True ; what is the use of my presenting her picture 
when I can present herself. But before I show her to you, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 281 

I must confess to you, that pearl of beauty as she is, she 
has one defect.” 

“ She is sickly ! If so I will have nothing to do with her ; 
the other one pined away and died ; now I will have no more 
of that nonsense ; so if the girl is sickly, our negotiation 
can proceed no further,” said the stranger, in a tone of 
annoyance. 

“ She is not sickly. Her health, her bodily health, I 
mean, is uncommonly strong.” 

“ Good ! then it is some moral defect ; an inclination to 
steal, or flirt, or lie, neither of which I care for, because 
either of which I can cure her of with a very little trouble.” 

“ Her defect is no more a moral than a physical one ; in 
fact it is mental.” 

“ Ah ! she is a fool ; beauties frequently are so ; for 
Nature, impartial in her gifts, seldom bestows any great 
degree of genius and beauty on the same individual. Be 
easy ; I do not value the girl the less for being a ninny.” 

“ There again you are widely mistaken ; the girl is as 
remarkable for her intelligence as for her good looks.” 

“Well, then, what in the fiend’s name is the matter with 
her ?” 

** You have heard of monomania ? a species of mental 
derangement, in which the victim is insane upon only one 
subject ?” 

“ Certainly.” 

“ Zora has such a malady ! With a mind singularly 
strong and clear upon all other subjects, she is decidedly 
cracked on one. In a word, she imagines herself to be 
somebody else.” 

“A very common case in monomania ! I had a wench 
once who imagined herself the governor’s wife! But who 
does your girl fancy herself to be ?” 

“ Why Mrs. Fulke Greville, formerly Mademoiselle Astrea 
He Glacie, who was the belle of Washington last season.” 

“ I recollect her ; I was in Washington last winter, and 
saw her at the theatre — a beautiful blonde V 9 


282 


THB FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“Yes! radiantly fair.” 

“ A star ! I remember her well ! And remember also 
how appropriate I thought her fantastical name, ‘Astrea.’ ” 

“ You made her acquaintance, perhaps ; you conversed 
with her ?” inquired the captain, with visible uneasiness, 
fearing most likely that, disguised as Astrea was, her 
manner and tone of voice might betray her to one who had 
known her formerly. 

“ Not I,” replied the stranger. “ I went very little into 
ladies’ society, and saw the reigning belle only at the 
theatre, where she was first pointed out to me ; and after- 
ward at the Capitol and at the President’s levee. But 
what could have put it into the head of your girl to 
fancy herself that lady ?” 

“ Oh, who knows ? She probably heard a great deal of 
Mademoiselle de Glacie, especially about the time of her 
marriage with Colonel Greville, which was very much 
talked of ; and as at that particular crisis my girl Zora had 
a brain fever, and dreamed of nothing but the beautiful 
bride, the idea became fixed. It will wear off in time,” 
answered the captain, with an air of indifference. 

“ Oh, doubtless ! And now, if }^ou please, we will take a 
look at the girl. I have every confidence in your report, 
Captain, but I never conclude a purchase without seeing 
my bargain.” 

“ Oh, certainly ; come with me, then,” answered the cap- 
tain, and the voices passed out of hearing. 

How rapidly one can think in extreme peril ! Astrea 
was appalled, but even in the midst of her consternation 
decided upon her course of action. She knew that she was 
quite helpless ; that resistance would be entirely useless. 
She knew that the captain and his crew were perfectly 
ruthless. She therefore placed her hopes upon this would- 
be purchaser. She resolved to be calm under the terrible 
ordeal that awaited her; to be patient until she should 
leave that fatal ship and reach the land • then to make an 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


283 


appeal to her purchaser ; to explain her real position and 
the diabolical arts by -which she had been reduced to this 
degradation ; and to offer, in the name of her guardian, ten 
times the amount of the purchase money on condition of 
being restored to her friends. She had scarcely come to 
this conclusion, when the cabin door was opened, and Yenus 
entered, threw her arms around the captive, and burst into 
tears, exclaiming: 

“ Chile, you is done sold, or good as sold ! and Marse 
Captain done sent me down here to fix you up and bring 
you on deck.” 

“ I know it, Yenus ; I have heard all, through the little 
window. Do not weep. I will trust in God,” answered 
Astrea. 

“ But I must part wid you, and nebber see you again I 
nebber !” blubbered the affectionate creature, who, in the 
isolated companionship of the long voyage, had become 
deeply attached to the captive. 

“ Poor Yenus ! constant partings from those to whom you 
become attached seems to be your whole earthly destiny.” 

“ Yes, honey ; Lord knows it’s de trufe ! I’m jes’ like a 
tree ; always being pulled up and planted some’eres else, 
and nebber ’lowed to stay long enough to take root !” 

“ Poor woman ! you must look forward, then, to that 
better land in which, once planted, you will grow and 
flourish forever; that land where partings shall be no 
more !” said Astrea, gently drawing the poor black head 
down upon her bosom. 

“ Now, chile, I must fix your hair, and ’range your dress, 
and take you up, nice and pretty, else dere’ll be de berry 
debbil to pay wid Marse Cap’n and me arter you’re gone,” 
said Yenus, lifting her head. 

Astrea took off her net and let her long hair fall. 

Yenus carefully combed and dressed it, and replaced the 
net, and then took from a drawer a pretty dress of white 
brilliantine, which she begged the lady to put on. 


284 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ How could a woman’s dress possibly have got here ? 
They brought none with me, that is certain,” said Astrea, 
curiosity making itself felt in the midst of her dreadful 
strait, even as the lighter emotions sometimes pass over the 
surface of the deepest passions. 

“ Hi, chile ! how I know ? All sorts o’ things is in dis 
ship. All I know, Cap’n told me look in dis drawer, and 
take out dis dress, and put on you,” replied Venus, care- 
fully fastening the bodice. 

“Are you going to be all day making up your minds to 
come on deck, you girls down there ?” called the voice of 
the captain from the head of the stairs. 

“ Come on, chile ! come up I don’t ’voke dem debbils ; 
’cause if you do it will be all de wus for you !” exclaimed 
Venus, in a nervous tremor. 

They went on deck and walked on toward the stern, 
where the captain and the purchaser stood in conversation. 
The purchaser was a large, stout, old man, dressed in a suit 
of light gray cloth, and a broad-brimmed, light gray, felt 
hat. His hair and whiskers were gray, his features were 
inflamed and bloated, his eyes blood-shot and watery, as if 
from the effects of habitual dissipation. The expression of 
his face was good-natured rather than otherwise. 

Astrea had taken all this in at one frightened glance, and 
then stood before her would-be master with bowed head, 
downcast eyes, and blushing cheeks, that only added grace 
and brilliancy to her beauty. Venus stood behind, with her 
apron at her eyes. 

The seller and the buyer did not hesitate to comment 
freely upon this human commodity before her own face. 

“This is the girl. Now what do you think of her?” 
asked the captain. 

“ Humph,” said the other, who, like all purchasers, would 
like to have depreciated the goods, in order to get it a lower 
price, “humph, a likely wench enough! but she looks as 
sullen as the deuse ! Now I rather dislike sullen women ; 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 285 

I consider sullenness about the worst fault of temper that 
I am acquainted 'with. And besides, this monomania, of 
'which you speak ! The more I think of it the more objec- 
tionable it seems !” said the man, who, however, could not 
conceal his real admiration of theJoeautiful creature before 
him. His eyes roved with eager covetousness over her 
graceful form. Astrea hung her head, and crimsoned under 
this scrutiny. 

The eyes of the captain followed, half laughingly, those 
of the purchaser, who presently said : 

“ Well, name your price for this girl !” 

“ What will you give me?” inquired the captain. 

“ I never set a price upon other people’s goods !” an- 
swered the purchaser, who was clearly afraid of offering too 
much. 

“ Hem ! yet you had better make me an offer before I 
take her to New Orleans, and set her upon an auction block, 
where you would find many competitors ! You know very 
w r ell how sharp the competition would be for the possession 
of this girl!” said the captain, maliciously. 

At these dreadful words, threatening a degradation of 
which, even in her most despairing hours, she had never 
dreamed, the blushes that dyed Astrea’s cheeks faded sud- 
denly away ; she became as pale as death. 

Poor Yenus seeing this, and fearing that she was about 
to sink to the floor, put her arms around her waist and sup- 
ported her. Astrea’s head sunk upon the negro woman’s 
friendly bosom. She had been anxious to be taken to the 
city, where she might see people to whom she could explain 
her real social position, and make her appeal for justice ; 
but oh ! not to the shameful auction block ! not to the de- 
grading gaze of the public ! not to the insulting competition 
of the licentious ! The burning stake rather than that. 

“ Don’t you see that you are frightening the poor wench 
to death with your talk of auction blocks ! These girls that 
are brought from Maryland have never been used to them, 


286 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


as our wenches are, and so have a foolish horror of them. 
Put your price upon your property without more dispute ; 
it is your place to do it.” 

“ Mr. Rumford ! It was at your own particular request 
that I should bring you the first good-looking young girl 
that I should happen to purchase, and submit her to your 
private inspection before offering her for sale at a public 
auction, that I am here. Row here is the girl ! Look at 
her, and make your offier !” 

“ Satan burn you for a sharper ! a thousand dollars, 
then!” said Rumford, naming just half the price he was 
willing to give. 

“A thousand figs’ ends !” contemptuously exclaimed the 
captain ; she is worth just ten times that ! Why, man, in 
addition to her beauty, she can sing like a prima-donna, 
and dance like a ballet-girl ! She can read like an elocu- 
tionist, and converse like a Parisian ! She would turn that 
purgatory of an old plantation house of yours into a perfect 
paradise ! A thousand dollars, indeed ! She is worth ten 
thousand, if a cent, nor will I take a farthing less than five 
thousand dollars, which is just half her value ! But you, 
being an old customer, I favor you!” concluded the cap- 
tain, naming just twice the sum he was willing to take. 

Such is the manner in which such negotiations are com- 
menced. 

Of course, both seller and buyer understood this, and 
acted accordingly. 

“ Oh, I see that we are very far from making a bargain,” 
said the purchaser, turning coldly away. 

“ In that case I had better take her to New Orleans, and 
set her up at auction. Zora, my girl, you may return to 
your cabin,” said the captain, quietly. 

“ Stop ! be reasonable ! take fifteen hundred 1” exclaimed 
Rumford. 

“ Venus, take Zora away,” was the captain’s only com- 
ment. 0 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 287 

— “ Pooh ! you are mad. How much is the very least you 
will take for her ?” 

“ Four thousand five hundred dollars! not a penny less 
from the best friend that ever lived !” 

“ It is madness on my part ; but I will give you two 
thousand!” said Rumford. 

Thus, fighting every inch of the distance between the 
price asked and the price offered, seller and buyer ap- 
proached each other, until at last a sum was agreed upon, 
and the sale effected to their mutual satisfaction. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

A DREAM. 


She had a home wherein the weariest feet 
Found sure repose ; 

And hope led on laborious day to meet 
Delightful close 1 

A cottage with broad eaves and a thick vine, 

A crystal stream, 

Whose mountain language was the same as mine 
— It was a dream! 

She had a home to make the gloomiest heart 
Alight with joy — 

A temple of chaste love, a place apart 
From time’s annoy ; 

A moonlight scene of life, where all things rude 
And harsh did seem 

With pity wounded and by grace subdued 
— It was a dream \—MUnes. 

Each had arrived at the standard of price that lieMiad 
fixed upon at first. Therefore satisfaction beamed upon 
each countenance. 

The seller was delighted because he had made an extra 
profit — knowing full well that the sum for which lie had 
sold his victim was so much clear gain, in addition to that 
which he would receive for abducting her ! 

And the purchaser was in raptures, knowing that, if this 


288 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


beautiful girl had been exposed upon the auction block at 
New Orleans, she would have brought at least three times 
the price he had paid for her. 

And not knowing that the last thing on earth that this 
trader captain would have dared to do, would be to have 
exposed this free-born lady, with a tongue in her head, to a 
public sale in a populous city square. 

So each had his private reasons for being extremely well 
pleased. 

And so the poor young victim of this wicked traffic re- 
ceived some of the benefits in the form of kind words. 

She still stood encircled by the supporting arms, and 
with her head reclined upon the gentle bosom of Venus. 

“ Well, my good girl — Zora I think they call j^ou — look 
up, let me see your face again, since I have purchased you 
from this trader. Come — don’t be sullen ! You will not 
find me a hard master ! Indeed, I am called a weakly in- 
dulgent one by all who know me well ! Tut, tut, now ! don’t 
be stubborn ! look up !” 

The tone of voice was not unkind ; and wishing to con- 
ciliate this new arbiter of her destiny, Astrea raised her 
head, and fixed her eyes upon those of her purchaser with 
a look so full of gentle dignity, profound sorrow, and earnest 
deprecation, that the man who encountered it must have 
been obtuse indeed, not to have understood that it was the 
expression of a refined, intellectual, and religious gentle- 
woman. 

But Barnaby Rumford was obtuse, very obtuse ! And so 
he v<*ry dimly perceived the meaning of this glance. He 
spoke up clieeringly : 

“ That is well ! Oh, I know it must have been hard for 
you to leave your native region of country, and harder 
still to part from friends, perhaps from parents ! But, 
cheer up ! You will find a dearer friend than any one you 
have lost — in me, your master ! Lord ! a month hence I 
wonder who will be master and who will be slave !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


289 


Astrea lowered her eyes and shuddered. 

“ Come, cheer up, your duties will be very light with me, 
no hard work, not even house work ; nothing to do but to 
please your master, and give orders to his servants. Come 
now, the boat is waiting. Make up your bundle and let 
us be off, or leave your bundle, if you like. It does not 
matter. In three days I will give you a better outfit than 
you ever had, or even ever saw, in your life !” 

But Astrea had dropped her head once more upon the 
bosom of Venus, where it continued to rest. 

“ Ah ! some favorite fellow servant. Well I’m a gener- 
ous old dog, I am ! foolishly indulgent, as the neighbors 
say. So if it pains you so much to be separated, I do not 
mind if I buy the other one too. Captain, are you willing 
to sell that black diamond ? and if so, for how much ? 
Mind, don’t say twice as much as you mean to take, for 
you perceive it is getting late, and we have no time for 
‘jewing,’ ” said Mr. Rumford. 

Now it happened that the captain particularly desired to 
dispose of his sable stewardess ; first, because he wished to 
supply her place with a white woman ; and secondly, be- 
cause he was about to sail for England. So, after a little 
consideration, the captain said : 

“ This woman is not for sale ; but to oblige an old cus- 
tomer, I will let you have her, and at a moderate price too I 
only sixteen hundred dollars.” 

“Bosh! you mean eight,” said Mr. Rumford. 

And as upon the first occasion they wrangled over the 
price, fighting every inch of the ground until they gradu- 
ally approached each other, and fixed upon an intermediate 
sum that proved mutually agreeable. 

“ And now, my girls, go and make up your little parcels, 
and when you come back, try to present more agreeable 
faces. I have done something for your mutual happiness, 
therefore show your sense of my kindness by your cheer- 
fulness. I hate sullen faces ” 

18 


290 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


So saying, the purchaser retired with the trader to pay 
the purchase money and receive the bills of sale. In these 
deeds, Astrea was set down as the mulatto girl Zora, and 
her faithful companion, as the negro woman Venus. 

Meanwhile, these two females, so widely separated by 
birth and social rank, so closely brought together by mis 
fortune and sympathy, went down into the cabin to make 
their little preparations for departure. 

Venus, with the elasticity of her race, had already re- 
covered her spirits. She spoke to Astrea in a chirping 
tone. 

“Dere now! what you tell me, honey? Trust in de 
Lord ! I did trust in him ; and now you see what’s come 
of it ! We aint to be separated ! TJs is gwine to go to- 
gether! Dat’s sumfin.” 

“That is a great deal; for, oh! Venus, if I had to be 
taken into that strange wilderness, and into those unknown 
perils without a friend to depend on, I think my courage 
must have utterly sunk. Now,Tiaving you with me, I can 
in some degree keep up my spirits.” 

“ True for you, honey ; ’sides which, it is such a great 
blessin’ to get offen dis deblish ship, anyhow I” 

“ And out of that captain’s power! I feel it as a great 
relief!” 

“ Yes, honey, and more ’sides ; I think how de new mar- 
ster ain’t so berry bad ! Shows he got some feelin’, to buy 
me, to go ’long o’ you ! Now, I think if, de bery fust chance 
you get, you tells de new marster all abouten yourself, he 
go do you justice ! ’deed do 17 ” 

“ I think so too ! for notwithstanding that dissipation 
has so reduced him, he must have been a gentleman origi- 
nally. And, Venus, if he should listen to my prayers and 
restore me to my friends, the first use I should make of my 
liberty, good woman, would be to purchase you and set you 
free,” said Astrea, affectionately. 

“ 0h > don’t, don’t, honey ! don’t talk so, it do take my 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


291 


breaf away ! make me a free woman ! dat too much, might’s 
well talk ob making me Queen ob Sheba at once. But if 
ebber you does come to your own rights, honey, and would 
buy me for your own servant, I would serve you faithful all 
my days, ’deed would 

While talking, Venus was also busily gathering together 
such articles as she required to take away with her. When 
she was ready she turned to Astrea and said — 

“ Come, chile, put on your bonnet.” 

“I have no bonnet here, ’’answered the poor young captive. 

“No bonnet ! Dere now ! Dat ’nother proof how you 
must ’a’ been stole away ! No bonnet ! Ef you’d ’a’ been 
fotch away hones’ you’d ’a’ had a bonnet ; dat sartain ! 
Here, hone}? - , you put dis on your head 1 It’s nice and clean, 
anyway !” said Venus, producing from her bandbox a white 
cambric corded sun bonnet. 

It was perfectly fresh and sweet, and Astrea felt no ob- 
jection to wearing it. She thanked the kind lender and 
put it on her head. 

Venus herself possessed many bonnets, but never wore 
one except on Sundays at church. Upon all other occasions 
she preferred the coquettish bandanna turban. 

They then went up on deck, where their new purchaser 
awaited them. 

“ Come, come, hurry into the boat, my good girls ! It is 
some distance to the landing-place, where the carriage waits 
us, and we have a long ride before we reach home,” he said, 
good-humoredly, enough, as he assisted first Astrea, and 
then Venus to descend the ship’s side and take their seats 
in the boat. 

He then shook hands with the captain and followed them, 
and took his seat by their side. 

The captain waved a mocking adieu as the boat left the 
ship. The men laid to their oars and rowed rapidly up the 
river, keeping near the west bank. 

Yet it was an hour before they reached the landing-place, 


292 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


a mere small pier and a wood-cutter’s cabin, where the 
steamboats sometimes stopped to take in wood. 

Here they went on shore, and while the boat that brought 
them sped back to the ship, they walked to a spot where 
a plain travelling carriage stood under the shade of a large 
cypress tree, and in charge of a negro coachman. By the 
order of the master, the two women entered the carriage 
and seated themselves side by side on the front seat. He 
followed them in and sat alone in lordly ease upon the back 
seat, facing them. 

And so the carriage drove off. 

Their way lay over a raised corduroy road, through an 
extensive cypress swamp, where the trees seemed to grow 
taller and closer together every mile they travelled inland. 

Astrea leaned her head from the window for two reasons ; 
the first was to avoid meeting the embarrassing glances of 
her purchaser, who sat with his red hands upon his fat 
knees, staring in stupid delight upon his new treasure, and 
the other was to gaze at the stately cypress trees that she 
now saw in native luxuriance for the first time. 

Yenus, with the sensual indolence of her race, settled 
herself on the soft, elastic cushions, to enjoy at her ease the 
motion of the carriage — forgetful of the past, indifferent to 
the future. 

Mr. Rumford remained taking his comfort in the way we 
have described, until at length his stupidity sunk into leth- 
argy — his lethargy into torpor, he nodded, settled himself 
into his corner, closed his eyes and went to sleep. 

The carriage passed on, and out of the cypress swamp, 
and into a more open and elevated country. 

Yenus, who was almost asleep, was roused up by a sudden 
jolt, which, however, did not awaken her heavily sleeping 
master. 

She yawned and stretched her neck, and looked out of 
the window to see where they were. Then she suddenly 
jerked in her head, and with eyes larger than they were 
before, exclaimed — 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


293 


“ Hi, chile, how dis ?” 

“ What ?” inquired Astrea, rousing herself from her pain- 
ful reverie. 

“ How we come back here ’gain ?” 

“ I don’t know what you mean !” 

“ Why, dis yer is old Ben Lomond, as I tell you ’bout !” 

“ Ben Lomond is in Scotland,” said Astrea, absently. 

“ Yes, chile, I know he is ; dat is ef he’s livin’ ! which it 
aint likely, as it has been so many years since ole marse’s 
grandfather — which he was a Scotchman himself — named 
dis yer place arter him ; which I think it downright sac- 
redligious to name a dumb house and land after a baptize’ 
Christian ! I don’t hold ’olong o’ no sich, as I telled you 
afore. An’ dis yer is de berry ole plantashum house itself ! 
as I neber spectorated to see again as long as ebber I libbed ! 
And how I should be fotch back to it again is more’n I can 
tell ! It’s jes like a dream !” 

Astrea looked out ; but could only see among the gently 
swelling hills a little green wooded vale, through the thick 
foliage of which gleamed here and there glimpses of the 
white stuccoed walls of a country house. 

“And is that the house where you were born and brought 
up?” inquired Astrea, kindly interested in all that con- 
cerned her humble companion. 

“Yes, honey-Hte berry house, sure as you lib to see it, 
where I wur born, and my ole marse afore me. And where 
ole marse lib so free, carryin’ on of his hi-jim-be-lung, enter- 
tainin’ of dis, and lendin’ money to dat, and ’dorsin’ notes 
for t’other, till down comes deaf on to him, and down comes 
de bailiffs on de ’state I and ebery singly thing sold up ! 
house, and land, and niggers ; and ole mist’ess and de 
young ladies turned out o’ doors !” 

Here the affectionate creature stopped to wipe her eyes. 

“What was the name of your old master, Yenus ?” in- 
quired Astrea, by way of diverting her thoughts from the 
household wreck. 


294 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ M’Gregor, honey, good ole Scotch name, dey do say: 
dough some folks will have it as how dey is distantly re- 
lated to. one Robber Roy; which I’ll nebber beliebeit any 
way ; ’cause a ’spectable fam’ly like our’n coufd nebber 
have no robbers into it. But what puzzles me, how I 
coming back to de ole plantashum house !” said Yenus, re- 
curring to the first mystery. 

“ But how do you know we are going there ? We may 
be going farther.” 

“ Hi, chile ! how we gwine furder when we done turn inter 
de road as lead right t’rough de plantashum up to de house, 
and no furder ? But what I want to know, how it is I come 
dere again ”? she persisted, pertinaciously returning to the 
question. 

“ You say the old plantation house was sold after your 
old master’s death ! Perhaps this new master has become 
the purchaser, and is taking you home,” suggested Astrea. 

“ Dere ! dat it ! now see what it is to have a good head- 
piece ! How why couldn’t I think o’ dat ?” exclaimed 
Yenus, in surprise at what she considered the quick wit of 
the young lady. 

The carriage rolled on, took a sudden turn into a circular 
shaded avenue, and drove up to the front entrance of the 
house. 

Rumford, who had slept soundly through all the jolting 
of the carnage, was awakened by its sudden stopping. He 
yawned, stretched his limbs, rubbed his eyes, looked out 
and said : 

“ Here w r e are at home !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


295 


CHAPTER XXX YI. 

« 

THE PLANTATION HOUSE. 

It is a shady and sequestered scene, 

Like to those famed gardens of Boccaccio, 

Planted with his own laurel evergreen 
And roses that for endless summer blow, 

And there are fountain springs to overflow 
Their marble basins, and cool," green arcades, 

Of tall, o’er-arching sycamores, to throw, 

Athwart the dappled path, tho dancing shades 
With timid coneys, cropping tender blades. — Hood. 

In a beautiful grove of tulip poplars and imperial catal- 
pas, stood the old plantation house. It was a long, low, 
brick building, covered with white stucco and surrounded 
by a piazza. 

“ Come, my good girls, get out,” said Rumford, as he 
slowly descended from the carriage and walked up to the 
front door and knocked. 

“ Come, honey, make de bes’ of it ; come out, an’ don’t 
’voke him,” said Yenus, taking Astrea’s hand and helping 
her to alight. They stood behind Rumford while he thun- 
dered at the door, which was at length opened by a negro 
woman, very large, black, fat, and old, who quite filled up 
the broad door-way. 

“ Well, Cybele, you were slow enough coming ; really, if 
you do not move quicker, I shall send you into the fields 
to find out whether Steppins cannot stimulate you to 
greater exertions,” said the master. 

“ Better send me to de ’firmary ; I’se fitter for dat. Bofe 
me and Brudder Sat’un ought to a-been superambulated 
long ago,” mumbled the mountain. 

“ Oh, yes, you and Saturn would persuade me that you 
are as old as your namesakes, the grandmother and grand- 
father of all the gods. But come ; here are two new com- 
panions for you. The yellow girl is called Zora, and she is 
to be the housekeeper. The black one is named Yenus, and 


296 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


she is to be an extra housemaid. Now show them where 
they are to lodge, and give them some supper,” said th 
master, passing into the house, and leaving his new pur 
chases to the care of his cook. 

“Am I to put Zora inter de — de ” 

“ Yes, you fool !” snapped Rumford, as he disappeared. 

“An’ here’s anoder I Oh, my good lor’, de sin in dis 
worl’ ! I wonder dat ole man nebber takes a ’sideration on 
to his latter en’!” muttered the woman, shaking her head, 
with dreadful significance. 

Then rousing herself, she said : 

“ Well ! come along o’ me, chillun ! An’ you’s a-comin’ 
inter a wicked, sinful, mis ’able house as eber was ; dat I 
tell you ; an’ I don’t care who hear me say it ; I leave tell 
ole marse so hisse’f to his face ; ’cause de ’cordin’ angel 
read it all out to him some day, anyway !” she concluded, 
as she led the way into the house. 

They entered a broad passage running through the centre 
of the house, walked down its whole length, passed out of the 
back door, and straight across the back yard to a brick build- 
ing, in which was situated the kitchen, pantry, and laundry. 

The kitchen was the central room. They entered it. It 
was a spacious apartment, with a cool brick floor, and many 
pine shelves and tables ranged around the walls. Opposite 
the door was a large fireplace, at one corner of which sat 
an old negro man, who might have been Cybele herself in a 
shirt and trowsers. 

This was Cybele ’s twin brother, Saturn. The way in 
which the brother and sister received their classical names 
was this : Ages before, when they were born, their proud 
mother had appealed to one of the young ladies of the 
family to find her “handsome names” for her beauties, 
saying that she was “ heartily tired o’ Wulcans an’ 
Wenuses an’ Jupiters an’ Junoes; dey was so common.” 
The young lady suggested Saturn and Cybele — names 
which, being new to the hearer, so fascinated her imagina- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 297 

tion that they were forthwith adopted. Cybele retained 
hers in its original purity ; but Saturn soon found his cor- 
rupted into Satan, and he never forgave his young mistress 
for “callin’ of a Christian baby arter de debbil,” as he sup- 
posed that she had done. And when it was explained to 
him that Saturn was by no means Satan, but only an old 
heathen god who devoured his own offspring, that did not 
mend the matter at all ; for he declared that in such a case 
“ de monster who ate up his own chillun was worse dan de 
debbil hisse’f, an’ he wouldn’t forgib Miss Gertrude worse 
dan ebber.” 

So much by way of explanation. 

Cybele led her new companions up to the glare of the 
fire and introduced them in formal style. 

“ Ladies, my Brudder Sat’un. Brudder Sat’un, dis is 
Miss Zora an’ Miss Wenus.” 

The grandfather of the gods arose to make a low bow 
worthy of himself and the ladies ; but suddenly, startled 
from his propriety, exclaimed : 

“ W’y ’oman, dis our own Wenus ! How do, Wenus ?” 

“ He, he, he, I gwine see whedder you-dem would know 
me,” tittered the woman. 

“ How de debbil you think anybody know you in de 
dusk, an’ you wid your head tuck down in yer bosom, an’ 
me thinkin’ you thousand miles away !” said Cybele, in a 
vexed tone. 

“ Marse Bumford tole you how I was name’ Wenus,” 
tittered the girl. 

“ Yes, but dere’s so many Wenuses ’round ! How I 
know it you?” grumbled the cook. 

“ Trufe is, ole ’oman, you’s a-gettin’ oler and oler ebery 
day ! You’ eyes is a-failen’!” grinned Saturn. 

“Ho oler nor youse’f, sir, if it come to dat ! no, nor yet 
so ole !” snapped the goddess, 

“ True, honey ! I’s de olest, I ’fesses to it ; half hour 
olest 1 But now look at the ladies a stallin’ dere yet, wid 


298 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

nuffin ’tall to sit down on ! Dat’s a putty way to ’ceive 
Wenus back again ! An’ a puttier way still to ’ceive a 
strange young lady! Miss Zora, sit here; Wenus, chile, 
sit there,” said the progenitor of all the gods, placing two 
split-bottom chairs in the coolest corner of the kitchen. 

Anxiety, at first stimulating in its effects, is afterward 
very prostrating. Astrea sank exhausted into one of the 
seats. 

But Yenus threw down her bundle and began to help 
Cybele to get ready the kitchen supper. 

“ When ole marse have his ?” she asked. 

“La, gal, not till about ten o’clock,” answered the old 
woman, who was engaged in pouring boiling water from 
the kettle into the coffee-pot. 

“ How you come back here, Aunt Cybele ?” 

“ Me an’ Brudder Satun bought in at' de sale by Marse 
Bumford, when he bought de house, arter you lef’. How 
you come yourse’f ?” in her turn, inquired Cybele. 

11 Promiscuous,” replied Yenus, who thereupon, while 
she laid the cloth, related her own adventures in the ship. 
During this recital she was careful not to betray Astrea’s 
real position in society, but spoke of her only as she 
appeared, Yenus thought the story of Astrea’s identity 
with Mrs. Fulke Greville had better be told first by the 
lady herself to the planter. 

When the coffee, the hoe cakes, and the bacon were 
placed upon the table, and Cybele and Saturn were about to 
seat themselves, and only waited in civility for the stran- 
ger, Yenus, with a delicacy not uncommon to her humble 
race, said : 

“ Miss Zora is too tired to sit up at the table and 
taking up a cup of coffee and a plate of biscuits, she car- 
ried them, and sat them upon the broad window-sill beside 
Astrea, and in a low voice implored her to eat and drink. 

Astrea thanked her and complied. 

When all had finished supper, Cybele said : 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


299 


“ Now, Zora, gal, I show ye yer room.” 

Glad of the prospect of being alone, Astrea arose to fol- 
low her fat conductor. Yenus took the responsibility of 
being one of the party. 


CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE BRIGHT SPECTRE. 


Can this be death ? — There’s bloom upon her cheek— 
But now I see it is no living hue, 

But a strange hectic — like the unnatural red 
Which autumn plants upon the perished leaf. 

It is a spirit 1 Oh 1 that I should dread 
To look upon it now ! — Speak to me 
I have so much endured — so much endure — 

Look on me ! the grave hath not changed thee more 
Than I am changed. We were not made 
To torture thus each other. Speak to me ! — Byron . 


They crossed the yard again, and entered the back door of 
the house, and passed into a back room on the left-hand side. 

For the understanding of the scenes that followed, it is 
necessary that this room should be described. 

First, it had no fireplace ; but, directly opposite the door 
by which they entered, were two long windows, opening 
upon the end of the piazza ; on the left hand, two similar 
windows, opening upon the back piazza ; on the right hand 
was another door, connecting with the adjoining front 
room. The floor was covered with a straw matting ; the 
windows shaded by straw blinds ; between the two end 
windows stood the head of the bedstead, draped with 
white dimity ; between the two back windows stood a 
toilet-table, similarly draped ; a washstand stood in the 
corner between the two doors ; straw-bottomed chairs filled 
up the spaces between the other furniture along the walls. 

“ Dis wery pleasant room in de summer season,” said 
Cybele, setting the candle down upon the dressing table. 


300 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ It seems very insecure ; it is upon the ground floor, and 
all the windows open upon the piazza,” faltered Astrea. 

“Yes, honey ; but it safe enough of ’trusion from out- 
sider for dat matter ; ’cause, you see, ole Marse, he sleep in 
de nex’ front room, and neber has less ’an two ’volvers un- 
nerneaf of his head, which everybody knows it, an’ de 
t’ieves keep ’way from prowlin’ ’roun’ here.” 

“ I wish I could sleep somewhere else — up-stairs in the 
attic; anywhere, so it was a safe place.” 

“ Lor’, chile, dere’s nuffin ’tall ’cept ’tis rats up in de at- 
tics ! ’sides which, dis allers was de housekeeper’s room, 
an’ allers will be long as ole marse libs ; ’cause dere’s no 
law here ’cept ’tis his will, an’ dat’s iron.” 

“Who was my unfortunate predecessor here ?” 

“ What you say, honey ?” 

“ Who was the last occupant of this room ?” 

“ Look yer’ chile’, ef you speaks to me, speak English, 
and not Indian ; ’cause I don’t know a word of it. I don’t 
know no more what you mean by ’free-de-session’ nor ‘ox- 
enpant’ dan de man in de moon.” 

“Who was the last housekeeper?” said Astrea, pa- 
tiently amending her phraseology. 

“ Oh 1 now you talks ! Lulu, honey ; poor Lulu ; she 
come here wid dis marse when he bought dis house ; but 
when she come, she had two bright red spots on her cheeks 
— -brighter dan de crimson roses ; de death-fire spots we 
calls ’em ; an’ she pined away an’ died.” 

“ Poor thing !” 

“Now, chile, good-night. I reckon you’s tired, an’ I 
knows I is ; an’ den you’s got to get up in de mornin’ to 
pour out ole marser’s coffee fur him. Wonder he scuses you 
from doin’ of it to-night ; but I reckon he thinks you tired. 
Come, Wenus.” 

“But cannot Yenus remain with me? I am afraid to 
sleep here alone,” pleaded Astrea. 

“ Honey, it’s jes ’bout as much as my head’s worf to go 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 801 

contrary-wise to dis marser’s orders. Wenus got to sleep 
long o’ me. You fasten up all your doors an’ windows, an’ 
you’ll be safe. Dere’s de dogs outside an’ de ole marse an’ 
his ’volvers inside; so what you ’fraid of? Come ’long, 
Wenus,” said Cybele. 

Astrea shuddered, and would have made another appeal, 
only that the old woman had already left. Yenus stepped 
back to whisper in the young captive’s ear : 

“ ’Less you can fasten yourse’f in berry safe, you set up 
all night in your clothes.” 

“ I will do so, Yenus.” 

“ An’ put your trust in de Lord.” 

“ It is my only hope.” 

“ Good-night, honey.” 

“ Good-night, good friend.” 

“ Wenus, you gwine stop dere all night ?” called the 
voice of Cybele from the hall. 

“ No, I’m a-coming,” said the girl, hurrying out of the 
room. 

Astrea was alone. 

Her first care was to examine the fastenings of her win- 
dow-shutters ; she found them all fast indeed — so fast that 
she herself could not open them. 

She next went to the door communicating with the ad- 
joining front room; this she found also fast — locked on the 
other side. 

She next tried the door opening into the passage ; and 
to her astonishment and dismay, she discovered that also 
to be locked on the outer side. 

She looked around in despair for some means of securing 
herself against intrusion ; but found none. There were no 
bolts to the doors, which also opened from the room, so 
that she could not even barricade them with the furniture. 

She could neither escape from the room, nor secure her- 
self within it. 

She was a close prisoner at the hourly mercy of her 
jailer. 


802 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


She sank down in a chair overwhelmed with terror. 

But she still possessed the little poniard — still had the 
means of escape through death ; and, thus far, held her 
fate in her own hands. Her courage rose. She took the 
little weapon from her bosom, and drew it from its silver 
case and felt the point, and found it very sharp. 

“I will not use it while there is a chance of other escape; 
I will not use it except in extremity — such extremity as 
must make even suicide a duty — and then ! where should I 
strike with the greatest certainty of instant success ? It is 
well to think of that beforehand. The chest is too well de- 
fended ; my hand might fail of reaching a vital organ, w^here 
failure would be eternal ruin ! Where shall I strike then ? 
Ah, here ! this is tender ! this is easily accessible ! Only 
an instant’s firmness will be needed to strike a mortal blow 
here !” she said, placing the sharp point of the little poniard 
against the jugular vein of her throat. 

Then, without sheathing it again, she held it in her hand 
so as to be ready for use at a moment’s warning, and set- 
tled herself in her chair to watch out the night. She closed 
her eyes and clasped her hands to offer up her evening 
worship. In it she prayed to be saved not only from utter 
ruin, but from the necessity of using the deadly weapon in 
her hand. She prayed to be restored in peace and inno- 
cence to her friends. 

She ceased. And whether sleep like a blessing from 
heaven descended upon her troubled mind, and she dreamed 
what seemed to follow ; or whether it were a vision or a 
reality, she herself could not have told. But gradually the 
room was filled with a soft, bright radiance that, filtrating 
through her closed eyelids, caused her to open her eyes. 

And then she saw that this radiance came from a part 
of the wall to the right of the door opening into the passage. 
It was about the height and size and shape of a human being ; 
and where the heart should have been, there was an. intense, 
dazzling light, like a sun, that sent its rays to the outlines 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 303 

of the form, and through that, lighted up the whole room. 
The effect of that blazing heart in that form of vapor, was 
like that of a brilliant gas jet in a ground glass shade. 

While Astrea, spell-bound, gazed in awe but not in terror 
upon this apparition, she noticed in the midst of the blind- 
ing light of the blazing heart, a black speck like the spots 
seen upon the sun. 

And while still she gazed, this shape of air became con- 
densed, its outlines grew defined, and it gradually assumed 
the form of a woman young and beautiful, but overshadowed 
with what seemed an infinite woe. She was arrayed in 
flowing white garments, that diffused soft light and aro- 
matic perfume around her ; but the portion of her robe that 
covered the heart, was darkened by a large foul blot, that 
sent forth a deadly stream of vapor, mingling with and 
darkening the light, and poisoning the aroma of her pres- 
ence. Her long black hair was crowned with stars, but the 
central one was gone — apparently burned away, for its 
place was filled with what seemed a shapeless, charred 
mass. Her large, dark eyes were full of eternal sorrow. 
Her left hand pointed to the spot upon her garments; 
while her right was extended in warning toward the mor- 
tal before her. 

Astrea had no power to move, nor to withdraw her gaze, 
even when this supernatural visitant advanced straight to- 
ward her, and stood before her, silent and motionless. 

For a moment the mortal and the immortal gazed into 
each other’s eyes, and then Astrea felt the influence of an 
irresistible power, compelling her against her will and 
against her terrors to address the presence : 

“ Spirit ! speak ! what would you have with me?” 

Another minute passed, and then Astrea heard a voice 
that did not seem to proceed from those mute and mourn- 
ful lips ; but rather to sound inwardly through the depths 
of her own spirit. The mystic voice said : 

“You see the lost star from my crown — the foul blot on 


304 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


my robe ! Till the first is restored and the second is ef- 
faced — too foul for heaven, too pure for hell — I wander 
homeless through the immensity of space ! Would you 
avoid my fate ? Flee from this accursed house ! ' flee from 
it to death !” 

Even during the speaking of these solemn words, the 
apparition slowly lowered its arm, receded to the wall, 
grew fainter in outline until nothing was left but the 
blazing heart with its black spot, and the form of air like a 
cloud around it. 

Another moment and this too was gone, the room was no 
longer bathed in radiance, and Astrea was alone and trans- 
fixed with amazement. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
astrea’s peril. 

Oli ! I have passed a miserable night, 

So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights, 

That as I am a Christian faithful soul, 

I would not spend another such a night, 

Though ’twere to buy a world of happy days, 

So full of dismal terror was the time. — Shakespeare,. 

Toward morning Astrea, exhausted hy long watching, 
fell into a fitful slumber, from which at first she every instant 
started with a shudder ; at length, however, this slumber 
deepened into a sleep so profound, that the captive lost all 
consciousness of surrounding objects until she was aroused 
by a loud knocking at her door. 

She sprang up in a great panic and gazed wildly around 
her, not recollecting where she was. She must have slept 
for some hours, for when she had lost consciousness the 
room had been in perfect darkness. It was now as light as 
broad day streaming through the green bars of four pair 
of Venetian shutters could make it. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


305 


The knocking continued, louder than at first, and was 
now accompanied by a voice calling out : 

“ Zora, chile ! Zora, honey ! wake up ! My goodness gra- 
cious alive, how soun’ you do sleep, to be sure ! Zora, 
honey ! Zora, chile !” 

“ Yes ! well, who is there V ’ exclaimed Astrea, rubbing 
her forehead, and turning round and round in a very con- 
fused memory of her situation. 

“ It’s me, honey ! me, chile ! ole Aunt Cybele. Laws-a- 
messy on top o’ my poor ole black soul, you must a’ been 
a-sleepin’ like de seven sleeper ! You aint up yet, an’ here’s 
breakfas’ ready, an’ old marse a-waitin’ for you to come an’ 
pour out his coffee.” 

Full memory in all its horrors now returned to the un- 
happy captive, and with a sigh, partly of relief that the 
night of terror had passed away without the dreaded ca- 
tastrophe, and partly of fear for the possible events of the 
day, Astrea walked toward the door to open it. But sud- 
denly reflecting that the door was secured on the other side 
only, she said : 

“You can come in, the door is not fastened on this 
side.” 

Cybele turned the latch and entered the room, exclaim- 
ing, as soon as she saw Astrea : 

“ Why, chile, you dressed a’ready ? Dat right ! I thought 
by you not answering as how you was asleep. Why ’n you 
answer when I call you ?” 

“ I was asleep. I sat up in my clothes and watched all 
night. I was afraid to go to bed because I was locked in, 
and had no means of locking any one out. I fell asleep 
near morning, and slept till you woke me. But why did 
you lock me in ?” 

“ Me lock you in !” exclaimed Cybele, in astonishment. 
“ Why, chile, it would a-been as much as my woolly ole 
head was worf, to lock you in ! Dat was ole marse’s doin’s. 
Soon as ebber me an’ Wenus come out’n your room las’ 

19 


306 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


night, an’ while we went to fasten de windows in de hall, 
ole marse he come soft out’n his room an’ turns de key ob 
your door an’ puts it in his pocket. Dis mornin,’ soon as 
ebber he was dressed, he come an’ unlock it again. I seen 
him doin’ of it while I was a-settin’ of de table, wid de 
dinin’-room door open.” 

“Why did he do that?” exclaimed Astrea, forgetting 
her position, and flushing with indignation. 

Now the uncultivated negro has naturally the very same 
manner of expressing inexpressible things as the cultivated 
French — with a significant shrug of the shoulders. Cy- 
bele drew hers up in the most exaggerated manner, as she 
answered : 

“ Laws, honey, when anybody buy perty bird an’ pay 
high price, dey puts it in de cage an’ fastens de door, fear 
of it flying away — leastways till it gets tame you know.” 

An indignant exclamation arose to the captive’s lips, but 
she prudently suppressed it. 

“And now, honey, do pray for goodness sake make haste, 
an’ come an’ pour out ole marse’s coffee ’fore he loses of 
his temper,” said Cybele, impatiently. 

Astrea bathed her face and smoothed her hair and settled 
the folds of her dress and gravely announced herself ready 
to go. 

“ Come along, den, I show you de dinin’ room where ole 
marse takes all his meals,” said Cybele, leading the way 
just across the passage to a back room directly opposite to 
that of Astrea. 

It was furnished in simple summer style, with straw mat- 
ting on the floor, straw blinds at the four windows, and 
straw-bottomed chairs and settees ranged around the room. 
There was, besides, a sideboard against the back wall be- 
tween the windows. A small round table, covered with 
a white damask cloth that hung to the floor, and adorned 
with a breakfast service of burnished silver, stood in the 
middle of the room. Upon it lay plates of light biscuits 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


807 


and cakes, potted meats and fish, fresh fruit, and all the lux- 
uries of a summer breakfast. There was a cover laid and 
a chair placed but for one. 

Astrea was expected to stand in the presence of her 
master. And this she much preferred to the hated inti- 
macy implied in sitting at the table with him. Any, even 
the most humble position, being much higher in her view 
than the humiliation of such an equality with him. 

Cybele went out and brought in the hissing silver urn 
and put it on the table, and then went and summoned her 
master, who was walking up and down taking the morning 
air in the front piazza. 

Rumford came in radiant and smiling, and looking cool 
and healthy in his morning suit of white holland and his 
broad-brimmed straw hat. He threw his hat upon a settee 
and dropped into his seat at the table, saying gayly : 

“ Well, my girl, got over your sulks yet ? You see I 
have given you time.” 

Astrea bowed slowly with a grave dignity, but without 
• other reply. 

“ If that means yes, I’m deuced glad to hear it ! Come, 
give me a cup of coffee. I like a good deal of sugar and 
cream in it too,” said Rumford, turning the contents of a 
whole jar of potted venison into his plate and helping him- 
self to a biscuit. 

Astrea gravely poured out the cup of coffee according to 
his directions, and placed it beside his plate. Then as 
gravely she resumed her stand at the head of the table. 

“ Bless my soul alive, girl ! you are as solemn as an owl,” 
said the planter, as he took up his coffee. 

“ Mr. Rumford — ,” began Astrea, with the serious dignity 
' that had marked her whole manner since falling into the 
power of this man ; but before she could add another word 
he interrupted her with the remark : 

“My servants usually call me ‘Master;’ my friends 
only say ‘Mr. Rumford;’ while my intimates term me 
‘Barnabas.’ ” 


308 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ I tliank you, sir, for the information, although it can- 
not interest me much.” 

“ I say, girl, where did you pick up your fine lady phrases ?” 

“ I am glad you perceive that I possess them, sir. I 
was educated at a school for young ladies in the Green 
Mountains, if it concerns you to know ; as I think it may.” 

“ And as I should think it did” replied the man, empty- 
ing a jar of Dumfries Orange marmalade into his plate.” 

“ Mr. Rumford, I was about to ask you to give me an 
interview this morning, that need not detain you more 
than twenty minutes.” 

“ You shall have it, my girl, directly after breakfast ! 
You might have it now, only that I cannot eat and talk, or 
even eat and listen with advantage, at the same time,” said 
the planter, handing his cup for a second supply of cofiee. 

Astrea filled and returned it in silence. 

The planter was a gourmand, and so the breakfast 
seemed interminable. At length, however, it was finished, 
and the man arose and touched the bell, summoning 
Cybele to clear away the table. Then beckoning Astrea 
to follow, he opened the communicatiiig door leading from 
the dining-room into the adjoining front parlor, which was a 
pleasant apartment, furnished like the others with straw 
matting, straw window blinds, and straw-bottomed chairs 
and settees, and adorned with pictures, statuettes, vases, 
and books. 

“Now then, my girl, what is it?” inquired Rumford, 
throwing himself at ease upon a settee that stood between 
the two front windows. 

Astrea, standing before him, pondered for a moment how 
best to open the subject. 

Rumford misunderstood her hesitation, and said : 

“ Some one you have left behind, I suppose, whom you 
wish me to purchase and bring out here ! Some old mother, 
or young sister, or little child, perhaps, without whom you 
cannot make yourself contented ! Well ! speak out, let us 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 309 

know which it is, and as I^am a good-natured fellow, who 
knows, if you please me, hut that I shall satisfy you!” 

“ Sir, you are mistaken. My request for an interview 
with you concerned none of those things which you have 
mentioned. What I have to say is not only of vital im- 
portance to myself, but it may be of advantage to you !” 

“ What is it, then, in the deuse’s name, my girl?” 

“ Sir, it is this — that I have been greatly wronged, and 
you have been much deceived, by the man who pretended 
to sell me to you ! I should have told you so upon the 
deck of the ship before the nefarious sale was effected, but 
for two reasons — in the first place, if I had ventured to 
speak, I should have been contradicted, brow-beaten, and 
silenced, while you yourself might have believed the false 
captain instead of me, or else, believing me might have 
declined the purchase, and left me still in the clutches of 
that ruthless man, when I was most anxious to leave the ship. 
These considerations determined me to continue silent, 
until I should be safe out of the ship, and then to speak — 
appealing to your sense of justice and humanity, and feel- 
ing sure, besides, that if you had suffered loss by the nefa- 
rious transaction to which my own silence seemed to make 
me a consenting party, my friends, who are wealthy, would 
recompense you tenfold.” 

“ What-in-the-name-of-sense are you driving at, my good 
girl? You talk like an orator; but I’m dashed if I can 
understand you !” said the man, with his fat eyes protrud- 
ing in astonishment. 

“ Sir,” replied Astrea, with grave and gentle dignity, “ I 
am by education, habit, and position a lady. I am the 
adopted daughter of Captain William Fuljoy, of Fuljoy’s 
Island, and the wife of Colonel Fulke Greville, of the 
United States Army. On my bridal eve, I was drugged 
and abducted by this buccaneer and his piratical crew. I 
was brought to the mouth of the Mississippi river, and 
sold to yourself— not, I fancy, for the sake of the money 


310 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

received from you, when you believed that you were pay- 
ing for a mulatto girl, but for some much deeper motive, 
of which I can only form the vaguest conjecture. Let that 
pass. 1 have now told you who and what I am, and I 
have now only to add, that if you will immediately write 
to my friends, and while waiting for an answer from them, 
cause me to be treated with the consideration due to my 
position, my friends, when they answer you, which they 
will do by coming in person to fetch me, will be sure to 
compensate you tenfold for any loss you have suffered on 
my account.” 

Astrea spoke these words with a quiet strength of faith 
that must have forced conviction of its truth upon the 
mind of Rumford, had he not been fore-armed by falsehood 
against its power. 

“ So, then, this is the breaking out of the monomania 
against which I was warned by Merrick,” he muttered to 
himself ; and then, as if to draw his captive out, he said : 

“ This is a curious story you tell me ; I would like to 
hear all the particulars.” 

“ I will give them to you, sir, as far as I can remember 
them ; for, as I said before, some of these events took place 
while I was under the influence of some powerful drug.” 

“ Humph ! that must have been when she had the brain 
fever,” muttered the man, as before. Then he motioned 
to her to go on. 

And Astrea gave him the details of her abduction as far 
as they were known to herself. 

‘‘An interesting story,” said Rumford. “ But now, my 
good girl, I want you to understand, that upon the subject 
of this fancied abduction of yours you are very decidedly 
cracked !” 

“ Sir ! sir ! no, I am not ! The wicked captain has told 
you so to blind you against the truth ! If you are really 
in doubt about the matter, write to my friends ; a month 
will bring you the answer — or rather bring you them in 
person. Write, I entreat you.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 811 

“ Why, so I would, my girl, if I had the slightest doubt 
of the event ; but to trouble a highly respectable family, 
who are perfect strangers to me, with the crazy fancies of 
one of my own people, is rather preposterous ! not to say 
insulting to them.” 

11 Then I will write ! Indeed I should have proposed to 
do so myself at first ! I will write to-day !” 

“ Not if I know it ! Come, Zora, you imagine yourself 
Mrs. Fulke Greville ! Did you ever happen to see Mrs. 
Fulke Greville ?” 

“ Every time I have looked in the glass since my mar- 
riage, sir.” 

“ Then, if you really ever did see Mrs. Fulke Greville, 
you saw a radiant blonde, with snowy skin, and sapphire 
eyes, and golden hair — a cold beauty, not half so charming 
as my warm, rich, ripe Zora, though she is but a mulatto !” 

“ Oh, sir ! you are deceived ! I am indeed that Mrs. 
Greville of whom you speak ! Oh, did I not tell you that 
they must have stained my skin, and dyed my hair and 
eyebrows to make me seem what I am not 1 Do but write, 
or permit me to write to my friends to come here and 
identify me ! My dear husband, my kind old guardian 
would never be deceived by this external discoloration of 
my hair and skin !” implored Astrea, clasping her hands 
and raising her eyes in impassioned supplication to the face 
of her purchaser. 

“Bosh, girl! I tell you you’re mad! you’re no more 
Mrs. Fulke Greville than you’re Mrs. Pius IX. ! Absurd ! 
When I was in Washington, last winter, I saw that lady in 
public places very often. If ever two females were the per- 
fect antipodes of each other in personal appearance, they 
were like Mrs. Greville and yourself! She, a tall, full- 
formed, radiant blonde ! You, a little midge of a mulatto !” 

“ Oh ! I know, that besides my discolored skin and dyed 
hair, I have wasted away and grown very thin ; and my 
dress is scant, where it was once ample, full, and flowing. 


312 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


These are the externals that deceive you. Ah ! perhaps 
they would deceive any one except my own friends, who 
have known me from childhood. Let me write to them. 
They will know my handwriting and my style ; and then 
they will hasten here and recognize me, even through all 
these disguises !” pleaded the captive, with clasped hands 
and strained eyes. 

“ Bosh ! it is the full of the moon and a fit of lunacy ! 
Have you any thing more to say to me ?” said the man, 
filling his pipe, and lighting it with a match. 

“ Yes, one more question to set you to thinking. I have 
told you who I am ; that I am, by education, habit, and 
position a young lady. I would now ask you, Mr. Rumford, 
whether you think my appearance, manners, and language 
are those of a — servant?” 

“ Humph !” grunted the master, taking the pipe from his 
lips and reflecting ; “ not of an ordinary one, I grant you. 
But Merrick prepared me for all that. He told me you 
could sing like an angel, and dance like a fairy, and talk 
like the deuse. You can do that last I now perceive !” 
And so saying the man replaced his pipe. 

“May I ask you then, sir,” inquired Astrea, ironically, 
“ how Merrick — since that was his name — explained the 
phenomena of a mulatto being able to do all these things ?” 

“ Oh ! certainly, by all means. While we were over the 
wine, he told me that you were the child of a wealth}^ plan- 
ter and his favorite servant. That your father sent you, 
when you were but seven years old, to a Northern school, 
where he passed you off as a white girl and his ward. He 
intended to bring you up as a young lady, and so he left 
you at that school for ten years, and then brought you 
home. He further intended to set you free ; but unfortu- 
nately he died suddenly, and so you shared the fate of his 
other people and was sold. You were bought by a captain 
of a steamboat first, where you happened to have to wait 
on a beautiful young bi*ide, making her wedding tour. You 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 313 

took your reverse so muck to heart as to get a brain fever, 
which has left you with this monomania. Poor girl ! It 
was really a terrible reverse. But cheer up ; be a good 
girl ; and you shall live easy, and have plenty of fine clothes 
to wear. And when I die I will leave you free. So you 
see, things are not so bad as they threatened to be ; they 

never are in this world. Come, now — give us a kiss 

What the deuse do you want, you meddlesome old fool, 
poking your stupid head in here ?” 

This last question was put to old Cybele, who at this 
moment appeared at the door, from the dining-room. 

“ Ole Marse,” answered the woman, doggedly, “ ’taint 
offen as I speaks my own mine ; but when I does I does , 
and Ole Nick hisself shan’t ’vent me of doing it !” 

“ I have no time to bestow upon you now ; go about 
your business!” 

“ Shan’t do it! Nebber went about my business when I 
didn’t choose to go, to please my ole ole marse, ’taint like 
as I’ll do it now to please my new ole marse !” 

“ Leave the room, I say, or I’ll ” exclaimed the man, 

advancing upon her. 

“ What ? You’ll what now ? Not hit me, ’cause I’se too 
ole ; an’ not sell me, ’cause nobody ’ll buy me ; so what’ll 
you do ?” 

“Listen to you, I suppose,” said Bumford, suddenly 
changing his mood, and half laughing at the absurdity of 
being defied by a miserable old woman. 

“ Well, den, dis what I gwine to say to you good. You 
has no ’sideration for oder people’s feelin’s. You done had 
your own good, warm breakfas’, and now you’s full, you 
don’t care a brass button who goes empty ! Dat’s jes you. 
Now how you ’spect dat dere gal gwine to lib widout 
eatin’ ? And here you keepin’ of her widout her breakfas’ 
all dis time !” 

“ It is her own fault !” answered Rumford. 11 Go, Zora, 
and get your breakfast. *‘Tken come back to me again.” 


314 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 
astrea’s flight. 

On what strange gronnds we build our hopes and fears 
Our lives are all a mist, and in the dark 
Our fortunes meet us. 

If fate be not, then what can we foresee ? 

And how can we avoid it, if it be ? 

If by free will in our own path we move, 

How are we bounded by decrees above ? 

Whether we drive, or whether we are driven, 

If ill, ’tis ours ; if good, the act of Heaven . — Dry den. 

Glad to escape from his presence, Astrea followed her 
sable guide to the dining-room, closing the communicating 
door. 

“ Here, chile, you might’s well eat here ; ’cause Wenus 
say how you’s alius been used to libin putty much in de 
house along o’ de white people, an’ so it go hard wid you 
to eat in de kitchen ; which ’pears to me queer, too ; ’cause, 
you see, I shouldn’t feel free an’ easy eatin’ in de house,” 
said the kind old creature, placing a hot cup of coffee for 
the captive. 

“ Oh, Aunt Cybele ! come here, I want to whisper to 
you,” said Astrea, in a low voice, beckoning the women. 

Cybele approached and bent down her head to listen. 

“ Oh, Cybele ! I have left friends at home that I wish to 
write to ! Can you procure me pen and ink and paper to 
write to them ?” 

“ Ole marse got some in his scratchetary. I can go ask 
him for some.” 

“No, no, no ! he does not want me to write home ; he 
would not let you have it for me ; but can you not get me 
some somewhere else?” 

“ Why law, chile, if ole marse ’jects to your writing it jes 
as much as my poor ole woolly head is worf to help you to 
do it in any way !” 

“You are not afraid of your master ! You defied him 
just now 1” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 315 

“ Law, chile, I knows jes how far I can go wid ole marse ! 

I can say putty much what I please to him ; but I can’t do 
what I please. Ole marse aint a bad-tempered man in de 
main ! But when he do get on de high horse — law ! but he 
makes people clar ? out’n his way ! ’cause, you see, lie jes leib 
kill you as look at you. I wonners, ’deed I does, as he’s lib 
to dis hour ob de day widout killin’ somebody 1” 

“And you will not assist me ?” 

“ Can’t, honey !” 

“Then heaven will!” said Astrea, taking her resolution. 

She knew that at night she would be again locked in her 
chamber, from which escape would be impracticable. 

Therefore she must try to elude observation, and go by 
day. 

She knew also that the a]3proaching interview with her 
purchaser would be full of peril. 

And therefore the attempt must be made at once. 

The supernatural vision or dream had warned her to fly * 
from the accursed house. And upon that and every other 
account she would do so. 

Yes ! she must fly from the house, from danger, from dis- 
honor ; but — whither should she fly ? — whither, in a country 
where every door would be closed against the fugitive, and 
every constable put upon her track ? 

To death, if necessary ! This was what the vision had 
said ! If she could once escape to the cypress swamp, she 
might defy re-capture, and even if she perished by starva- 
tion, it would be better than to be driven to the act of 
suicide, as she should be by remaining in this house. To 
the shades of the cypress swamp then she resolved to try 
to make her escape. 

She would have liked to write a few lines to her friends 
at home, and leave the letter for Cybele to put in the post- 
office ; but this the fears of the old woman rendered impos- 
sible. 

As she mechanically sipped her coffee, her mind reverted 


316 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

again to the supernatural visitant or dream of the night, 
and she connected it with the thought of her predecessor 
in this house, of whose fate she had heard the preceding 
evening, and she inquired : 

“ Cybele, what sort of looking person was that poor Lulu 
of whom you spoke to me last night ? ” 

“ Laws, chile, let’s see ! — I aint good at ’scribin’. Poor 
gal ! She was tall, slim, delicy, wid long black hair failin’ 
down below her wais’ ; an’ great black eyes wid de most 
mournfullest look into dem as ebber you see ! She look 
jes as if she had some eberlastin’ great sorrow as nothin’ 
on this earth, nor yet in heaben, could eber, eber comfort 
her again ! Dat her ! An’ so she pine away an’ die !” whis- 
pered the old woman, mysteriously. 

Astrea recognized with a superstitious thrill the portrait 
of her nocturnal visitor. 

“ An’ I don’t want to scare you, honey, but dey do say, 
how she walks/” 

“ Walks ?” echoed the captive. 

“ Yes, honey ; dey do say ole marse hisse’f can’t sleep 
quiet in his bed, because she don’t rest quiet in her grave ! 
Dey say how anybody a-listenin’ can hear him hallo out in 
de middle o’ de night for de fear dat is on him. You see, 
honey, I don’t know nuflin ’bout it. It may be nuffin ’tall 
but his guilty conscience for aughts I know!” whispered 
the old woman. 

“ But who says these things ?” inquired Astrea, in a tone 
of voice from which she could not banish the expression of 
awe. 

“ Hush, honey ; Dinah, as was the housemaid ’fore Wenus 
come, she was de fus’. An’ when ole marse heard dat, he 
jes turn roun’ an’ sold her to a trader. Den odder people 
said de same ; eben visitors as stopt in de house all night. 
But I say it’s de effects ob conscience.” 

“ Well,” said Astrea, “ such an explanation of his wakeful 
nights might be satisfactory.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 317 

“ But see here, honey, why’n you eat your breakfas’ ? 
You seem jes like anybody in a dream,” said Cybele, herself 
just waking up to the perception that Astrea sat there with 
the food untouched before her. 

Astrea, now recollecting that she would need all her 
strength for her escape, forced herself to swallow a little 
coffee and bread, and then quietly arose from the table and 
walked out of the back door, as though she was going into 
the kitchen. Then, with a sudden impulse, she turned back 
and got into her own room. The key was still on the out- 
side of the lock. She turned the guard of the keyhole down 
on the inside, so that no one could look through it from 
without. Then catching up and concealing the bonnet that 
Yenus had given her, she came out of the door and looked 
up and down the passage. 

No one was on the watch. 

She then closed and softly locked the door and withdrew 
the key, and stooped to look through the keyhole. It was 
dark. 

“ They will think that I have locked myself in, and per- 
haps gone to sleep, and that will gain time,” she said to 
herself, as once more she passed the back door out into the 
back yard, as if going into the kitchen. The yard was 
thickly shaded with trees . 0 There was no one visible in it. 
She passed to the right of the kitchen building into a 
kitchen garden, where she found old Saturn busy among 
the pea-vines. 

“ Good mornin’, Miss Zora ! How you do dis mornin’, 
miss ?” inquired the old man, straightening himself up. 

“I am well, I thank you, Saturn,” she replied, as her 
heart sank at being thus discovered. 

“ Where you gwine dis mornin’,” next asked the old man, 
bent on conversation. 

“ Don’t you see ? I am looking at your garden. Where 
are your strawberry beds ?” she asked, anxious to escape. 

“ Right down dere, honey ; on de sunny side o’ de slope, 


818 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

at de bottom o’ de garden,” said Saturn, pointing the 
way. 

With a nod and a forced smile Astrea went on. It may 
be well supposed that she did not stop to pluck the luscious 
fruit. When she had got to the bottom of the slope, she 
sought for some back gate that might lead out of the gar- 
den. The fence was high and close, and she could not see 
what was beyond it ; but she believed the fields to be there, 
and the road not far off. At length she discovered, not a 
back, but a side gate. To her joy, it was unfastened. She 

opened it, passed through, and found herself in the 

poultry yard, where Yenus stood with a basket of grain in 
her hand, from which she was feeding a flock of chickens 
that were fluttering around her. 

At sight of the young lady, down went the basket of 
corn, scattering its contents lavishly among the delighted 
fowls, who hastened to gobble it up while Yenus ran to the 
side of Astrea, exclaiming, breathlessly : 

“ Honey, was you disturbe’ las’ night ? Is you safe dis 
mornin’ ?” 

“ Thank heaven, I am safe ! But oh, Yenus, my safety 
is momentarily endangered. I have not now a moment to 
stop to talk with you, I must escape ; so ” 

“ ’Scape !” exclaimed the woman, with her mouth and 
eyes wide open with astonishment. ’Scape where, chile ?” 

“ To the cypress swamp ! to death ! to any thing but the 
fate from which I fly.” 

“ ’Twill be deaf, den. How you get out’n de house wid- 
out bein’ stopped ?” 

Astrea rapidly and breathlessly told her ; adding : 

“ They think that I have locked myself in my room. 
That will give me some little time to reach the cypress 
swamp, and once there, I can lose myself in its innermost 
recesses. How tell me, and oh ! quickly, how I can best 
reach that swamp. You know the country, I suppose, 
having lived here all your life ?” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 819 

“ Yes, honey ; but don’t you go !” pleaded the woman, in 
whose thought, exposure to almost certain death was the 
very greatest evil one could encounter, except death itself. 

“Yenus, understand me. I must and will escape from 
this house, from this danger that threatens me, no matter 
what else I meet in life or death ! Listen farther. If I 
escape to the cypress swamp there is a chance of life for 
me. I may be found by some one who will believe my story 
and take my part. If I remain here my death is certain. 
For look here, Yenus — before that man, who is even now 
waiting impatiently for me to go to him, shall so much as 
lay his hand on me — I will do this /” and suddenly flash- 
ing out her poniard, she placed its glittering point against 
her throat. 

“Ar-r-r-r-r !” screeched Yenus, shutting her eyes, and 
opening her mouth to its widest extent. 

“ Hush ! you will alarm the plantation !” said Astrea, in 
a low, peremptory tone, as she sheathed the poniard. “And 
now, if you wish to save my life as well as my honor, show 
me the shortest way to reach the cypress swamp.” 

“ Oh ! Oh, dear ! Oh, Lor’ ! I neber could ’bide cole 
steel an’ deadly weapons — nebber ! An’ de sight o’ blood 
would finish me in two minutes ! Nebber gib me sich 
anoder scare as long as eber you lib, chile, less you want 
to see me drap down dead afore you !” sobbed Yenus, all 
in a tremble. 

“ Show me the way then — or else ” said Astrea, rais- 

ing the poniaTd significantly. 

“Yes, yes, yes I I gwine to !” gasped Yenus, in an acces- 
sion of terror, seizing the hand of Astrea, and hurrying her 
on to a gate letting out from the poultry yard. 

This gate opened upon a worn-out and abandoned field, 
now grown sparsely up with high weeds and hardy shrubs, 
such as could find nourishment in its exhausted soil. A 
narrow, disused, grass-grown path ran through this field. 

“ Dere, you see dis here path ? Follow it t ’rough dis 


820 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


fiel’ till yon come to de wild fig trees ; den though dem till 
yon come to de magnolia grove ; den t ’rough dat till yon 
come to de plains — den dere isn’t no path, but yon can see 
de Cypress Swamp straight afore you, right agin’ de sky, 
and not more’n half a mile off.”,: 

“ Thank you, Yenns ; and now one request more ! Pray 
do not mention that you have seen me unless you are ques- 
tioned.” 

“ Who — me ? Not if I knows it 1 Who you think wants 
dere head bit off for lettin’ of you go ? not Wenus ! I tell 
you, honey ! I’s ’tween two fires wid you an’ ole marse ! 
You t’reaten to kill yourself if I don’t let you go ; an’ he 
be sure to kill me if he fine out I did let you go ! No, 
chile ; I aint gwine to say nuffin ’tall. I gwine keep a still 
tongue in my head, in dis yere ticklish business. An’ now 
ef you will go, you’d better go ’long ! I gwine lock dis 
here gate arter you, an’ t’row away de key,” said Yenus. 

“ Thank you again, and good-by !” said Astrea, as she 
disappeared through the gate. 

Yenus locked it after her, and threw the key over the 
fence into the high weeds, where it must have been hope- 
lessly lost. 

“Dere now! TTncle Satan get de blame o’ losin’ dat 
key ! ’cause it’s his business to keep dat gate locked an’ 
dat key safe ! which, if he’d a done his duty, dis gal nebber 
could o’ bullied me into lettin’ o’ her t’rough ! ’cause why ? 
why, ’cause I couldn’t ’a’ done it wfidouten de key ! Oh ! 
but aint she a lamb neider ? When she t’reaten me wid dat 
little p’inard, her eyes flash sparks o’ fire ! Who’d a thought 
it o’ her, to see her so gentle, most times ? But lors ! so is 
a wild cat — de softes’, gentles’, purrin’est creetur’ dat ebber 
was till you makes it mad ! Den take care o’ yourse’f, will 
you ! All o’ suddint it’s nuffin but fangs an’ claws an’ tail, 
all in a blaze o’ spittin’ fire ! Ole marse better look out for 
hisse’f an’ let she alone ! ’deed had he ! He better take a 
she-tigress for a sweetheart afore she! She jes’ soon 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


321 


p’inard him as look at him, an’ a heap sooner, too ! Now 
what I gwine to say ef dey ax me any questions ? Lie 
like de debbil, I s’pose, wid de risk o’ bein’ found out, to 
make my case worse ! Well, Wenus, I wishes you well 
out’n dis scrape !” said Venus to herself, as she left the 
poultry-yard, and went into the house to do the chamber 
work. 

Cybele was still in the dining-room, standing at the head 
of the table, washing up the breakfast service. She came 
out and spoke to Venus, inquiring: 

“ See any t’ing o’ Zora, dis mornin’ ?” 

“ Dere ! I know dat gwine to be de berry first question ! 
Why, where is she ?” said the woman, who was not quite 
prepared with her falsehood. 

“ She went out here ’bout an hour ago, an’ she aint in de 
kitchen, nor likewise in de yard ; t’ought as how you an’ 
she were ’quainted long of each oder, you might ’a’ seen 
somefin of her.” 

“ How I gwine see her an’ she in de house an’ I outside ? 
Who want her ?” 

11 1 do !” said the angry voice of Mr. Rumford, as he 
walked into the room. “ I had something to say to her, 
and I ordered her to come to me directly after she had 
finished her breakfast. She has not done so! She has 
kept me waiting for nearly two hours ! You were her com- 
panion! Where is the woman ! Tell me at once!” 

“ Oh, lors ! it’s a cornin’!” said the trembling girl to her- 
self. 

“Answer, woman !” 

“ Yes, sir ! I is a gwine to, sir ! ’deed I is !” said Venus, 
twisting her apron, withou the remotest idea of what she 
should say. 

“ Then why the deuse don't you ? Don’t you understand 
the question ? Where is your companion ? Where is Zora ?” 
thundered the roused man. 

“ Oh, lor’, sir ! oh, lor’, sir ! she’s— she’s ” 

20 


822 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Where ?” 

“ Locked herse’f up in her own room to go to sleep, sir ?” 
cried Yenus, discharging this lie with the suddenness of a 
bullet. 

Rumford dropped the arm of Yenus, and his rage subsi- 
ded into a good-humored surprise, as he said slowly : 

“Well, upon my word! this is one of the coolest pro- 
ceedings I ever heard of ! I order a girl to come to my 
presence directly after breakfast, and instead of coming, 
she goes calmly ofl* and locks herself up in her own room 
to go to sleep ! I like that !” 

“ But, marse,” said Yenus, who, now that the fountain of 
falsehood was unsealed, lied most fluently — “ Zora was mos’ 
dead for sleep, sir ! ’deed she was ! ’cause she didn’t sleep 
all las’ night long o’ de fright she got a-bein’ by herse’f !” 

“Fright?” 

“ Yes, marse ! You see she alius use to have me in her 
room, an’ she ’fraid to sleep by herse’f at night. An’ so she 
couldn’t sleep ! An’ so dis mornin’ she dead for sleep ! 
An’ ebber since her long sickness she’s subject to a flutter- 
ation ob de heart, which, if she doesn’t get her good sleep, 
it comes on.” 

“ Humph ! that is very bad ! Merrick told me nothing 
of that,” said Rumford, shaking his head with an air of 
dissatisfaction. 

“ Hi, marse, you t’ink any trader gwine to run down an’ 
misparage his own goods ? But you needn’t be no ways 
oneasy ’bout Zora, if you on’y lets her sleep de gran’ 
roun’s.” 

“The grand rounds? What the deuse are they ?” asked 
the planter, raising his eyebrows. 

“ Why, marse, from one hour of de ebenin’ to de ’spond- 
in’ hour ob de mornin’ ; or failin’ ob dat, as it failed las’ 
night, from one hour ob de mornin’ to de ’spondin’ hour of 
de ebenin’. So as she go to sleep dis mornin’ at nine 
o’clock don’t let anybody wake her up till nine o’clock dis 
ebenin’. Dat will be twelve hours at a stretch.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 323 

u Ha, ha, ha ! and that is what you call sleeping the 
grand rounds ? "Well, it is well that no more of my peo- 
ple possess a constitutional necessity for sleeping the grand 
rounds ! Well, as it is her first day in her new home, we 
will let her sleep 1 It will be time enough for me to give 
her a lecture on obedience to my orders when she wakes !” 
laughed ftumford, good-humoredly, as he put his everlast- 
ing pipe in his mouth, and sauntered out upon the lawn. 

“Wenus, dat true?” significantly inquired Cybele, as 
she put away the breakfast service in the china closet. 

“ What true ?” demanded the non-committing Yenus. 

“ ’Bout Zora.” 

“ What ’bout Zora ?” 

“ ’Bout her havin’ of dat flutteration in de heart, an’ be- 
in’ ’blige to sleep de gran’ roun’s an’ dat ? Or is it only 
good for nuffin’, triflin’ laziness ?” 

“It’s true; do you t’ink I tell a false ?” demanded Ye- 
nus, indignantly. 

“ Oh, no ! but I t’ink you looks berry much like I do 
when I tells a false, dere !” 

“I gwine do ole marse room now!” said Yenus, flinging 
herself angrily out of the dining-room. 

The day passed off quietly. 

Mr. Rumford dined out with a neighbor, and did not re- 
turn home until very late. As he always let himself in 
with a latch-key, his servants were not required to set up 
for him. At ten o’clock, therefore, Cybele and Yenus were 
engaged in closing up the house when the former said : 

“ It done struck ten o’clock ! an’ dat gal aint wake up 
yet ! I t’ink she mus’ be sleepin’ of de gran’s roun’s, gran- 
’er dan ebber 1” 

“ Well, s’pose she is ? She’s tireder dan ebber !” grumbled 
Yenus, as they locked the last door behind them and retired 
to the loft above the kitchen where they slept. 

Meanwhile, where was Astrea ? 


324 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER XL. 

THE SEARCH. 

The far-sweeping earth shall not shelter, 

Nor the all-embracing sea hide her 
From my search . — Old Play. 

It was near day when Rumford returned from the dinner 
party, none the better for the champagne he had consumed. 
He was one of those whom wine will put to sleep but never 
deprive of reason. He had sense enough to reach home, 
put his horse in the stable, let himself in the house, find his 
way to his chamber, and even blow out the light before 
tumbling into bed, where he fell into a heavy sleep, which 
lasted until late the next day. 

That morning the household arose early as usual. Cy- 
bele and Yenus met in the passage between Astrea’s cham- 
ber and the dining-room. 

“ Zora up yet ?” inquired the oldest of the goddesses. 

“No,” was the curt reply. 

“ Den she mus’ be sleepin’ ob de gran’ roun’s three times 
ober! I gwine call her.” 

“ Don’t you do no such thing. Ole marse say how she 
mustn’t be sturb till she wake up her own self I” said Yenus, 
in alarm. 

“But goodness alibe, chile, de gal sleep herself to deaf!” 

“Not she ! I knows her ways ! It’s all along of her flut- 
teration ob de heart ! You go wake her up an’ kill her ! 
dat all ! an’ den see what ole marse gwine say to you 1” said 
Yenus, threateningly. 

“ Berry well, I aint gwine to ’sturb her. Deed for dat 
matter, since she has slept so long, I has got a curiosity to 
see how long she will sleep if lef ’ alone,” answered Cybele, 
hurrying out into the kitchen to attend to the breakfast. 

Yenus went into the dining-room to set the table. 

According to the strict rules of the house, breakfast was 
always prepared at the usual hour — eight o’clock. But on 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 825 

this morning it waited long in vain for the appearance of 
the master. 

At length, some time after eleven o’clock, he came out of 
his chamber wrapped in his dressing-gown, and looking 
tired and haggard. He entered the dining-room, threw 
himself into his arm-chair, and rang for his coffee. 

Venus brought in the urn. 

“ Where is Zora ? Has she got through with her — Hip 
Van Winkle sleep yet?” inquired the planter, with a dash 
of humor in his tone. 

“ Ho, sir,” answered Venus, curtly and unexpectedly. 

11 What !” exclaimed Humford in astonishment. 

“ It take her a long time to sleep off one ob dem flutter- 
ations ob de ” 

“ Bosh I” exclaimed Humford, laughing, jumping up from 
the table, striding through the passage, and knocking loudly 
at Astrea’s door, while he called out : 

“ Zora ! Zora ! Zora ! Come, come, my girl ! Are you 
sleeping the last sleep ? Or are you, as is most likely, 
sulking there ? You must be hungry by this time at least ? 
Come, come, show yourself 1” 

And having thundered at the door once more, he returned 
and seated himself at the table, saying : 

“ That would awaken her if she was one of the seven 
sleepers ! Pour out my coffee, girl.” 

It was fully an hour and a half before the gourmand got 
through with his breakfast and left the table. His first 
thought was of Astrea. 

“ Hasn’t that girl made her appearance yet ?” he inquired 
of Cybele, who was loitering in the passage. 

“ Ho, sir ; an’ I is feared somefin has happen’ Taint no 
ways natural for anybody to sleep so long as dat,” answered 
Cybele. 

“ Ho, it is not ! and people with heart disease sometimes 
die in their sleep,” said the planter, going to Astrea’s door 
and knocking and calling loudly. 


326 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

Of course there was no response from within. 

“ There is something the matter ! Get me a crow-bar, 
and I will force the door,” said Rumford, turning pale. 

Cybele trotted off, and asked Saturn for the required tool. 

The old man was some time rummaging in the wood-shed 
before he could find it ; for old Saturn, with the disorderly 
habits of his tribe, kept his kindling wood in the tool-house, 
and left his tools scattered about under the wood-shed. 

At length, however, Cybele brought the crow-bar to her 
master, and the door was forced. 

They all entered the room in a body. 

There was no one there. The room was empty. 

Every one looked into each other’s face with astonish- 
ment ! Even Yenus, because she knew the secret perfectly 
well, opened her mouth and eyes wider than any one else. 

The master was the first to find his voice. 

“ What, in the name of the demons of darkness, is the 
meaning of this ?” he demanded, in a terrible voice, turning 
from Cybele to Yenus. 

“ ’Deed an’ ’deed an’ ’deed, marse, I doesn’t know, sir?” 
replied Cybele, trembling with affright, although she was 
speaking the truth. 

“An’ ’fore all the angels in hebbin, marse, I don’t know 
nuffin nuther !” affirmed Yenus, with all the more confi- 
dence because she knew she was telling a lie. 

“ You are both deceiving me ! But take care !” 

“ ’Deed an’ ’deed, marse, ’fore de Lord, we aint !” ex- 
claimed both in a breath. 

“ Who saw her last ?” demanded the master, in a furious 
voice. ^ 

A 

Yo one durst answer. 

“What was the last you saw of her, Cybele ?” he thun- 
dered, turning to the old woman. 

“ Lor’, marse ! soon as ebber she done her breakfas’ yes’- 
day mornin’ she went out o’ de dinin’-room, an’ I t’ought 
how she was a-going to you ’cordin’ to orders, ’cause I 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 327 

heard you tell her to come myself! An’ dat was the berry 
las’ I see of her.” 

“And you? You saw her after this? You saw her 
when she said she was going to lie down and sleep ?” said 
the planter, turning abruptly to Yenus. 

“ Yes, marse ! yes, sir ! I was stan’in’ in de back door 
when she come out’n de dinin’-room, an’ open her own 
room door an’ say to me, ‘ Wenus, I is gwine to lie down 
an’ try to get some sleep.’ An’ so she shut her own door 
an’ lock it on de inside, an’ dat de berry las’ I ebber see ob 
her, ’fore all de angels in heaben !” 

It was terrible to look on the white rage of the baffled 
man. His face was as pale and grim as death itself ; his 
eyes gleamed with a baleful fire ; his jaws were locked ; and 
his words came from beneath clenched teeth. 

“ Call Saturn to me,” was his next order. 

The old man was summoned and questioned ; but could 
give no satisfaction. 

“ Her sleep was a sham,” said Rumford, between his set 
teeth. Then turning to Saturn, he said : 

“ Cause inquiries to be made throughout the plantation 
for her. Go yourself down to the negro’s quarters, and 
ask there ; see Steppins, the overseer, and question him. 
Say that I will give a hundred dollars to any of my people 
who will bring me any certain information about her!” 

Saturn hurried away to do his errand. The others dis- 
persed upon the same mission. The search began in ear- 
nest, and was pursued that whole morning with vigor, but 
without effect. 

Toward evening Rumford once more called Saturn to his 
presence. 

The old man stood bowing before him. 

“ This girl Zora is very delicate ; he has but recently re- 
covered from a severe illness ; she has already probably 
passed one night exposed in the open air ; she must not 
pass another ; it might be her death ; she must be recovered 


828 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

by any means and at all hazards ; loose the two old blood- 
hounds, Castor and Pollux, and bring them to this room.” 

“ Oh ! marse ! You would not hurt a young gal with 
bloodhounds ?” exclaimed the old man. 

“Why not? They will not hurt her; they are too well 
trained ; they will only track her and hold her until we 
come up ! and, in one word, it is the only way, or at least 
the quickest and surest way, of recovering her ! Besides, 
blame you ! am I accountable to you for my acts ?” said 
Rumford, half laughing, as was his custom when betrayed 
into any supposed infringement of his own dignity. 

The old man went out and did as he was bid, and very 
soon the passage door was burst open, and two beautiful 
hounds bounded before Saturn into their master’s presence, 
and jumping upon him, began to cover him with caresses. 

“Good dogs! come! come!” said the latter, rising and 
leading the way into Astrea’s room. 

Here he looked about in vain for some article of her 
clothing, but failing to find any, and recollecting besides 
that she had brought nothing with her except what she 
wore, he felt quite at a loss, until suddenly thinking of the 
arm-chair in which, he had learned, she had passed the 
night, he made the well- trained dogs scent that, and then 
he started them upon the track with the usual words : 

“ Good dogs ! good dogs ! seek her, seek her, then !” 

They snuffed about the chair, and then about the room, 
and finally reaching the door struck the trail ; but seemed 
soon to lose it again in the passage, and again to recover it 
in the yard. And thus, sometimes at fault, sometimes on the 
trail, they passed through the yard and the garden and the 
poultry-yard to the back gate, where it will be remembered 
that Astrea stood a considerable time talking to Yenus. 

Here they set up a howl, and as the fence was very low, 
they soon scrambled over it and set forth in full cry upon 
the path that she had taken. 

Meantime Rumford had mounted a horse that stood 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 329 

ready saddled to receive him, and had ridden out upon the 
high road to watch the motions of the dogs. 

When he saw them scramble over the back fence of the 
poultry-yard, and set out in full cry upon the narrow path 
leading through the old field, he called to his groom to 
mount and follow him, and put spurs to his horse and 
dashed after them at full speed, uttering, in a high, en- 
couraging tone, the cries by which a hunter cheers on his 
hounds to the chase. So they dashed over the fields lead- 
ing to the cypress swamp. 

And meantime where was Astrea ? 

After she had passed the gate, and heard it shut and 
locked behind her, she struck into the narrow path leading 
through the neglected fields toward the grove of wild fig 
trees. Fear lent her wings until she had cleared the inter- 
vening space and reached their friendly shelter. 

Then, weary, palpitating, and breathless, she sat down to 
rest. She could no longer be seen by any chance observer 
from the house. But yet, in her nervous, frightened, and 
vigilant state, the flutter of a bird in the foliage, the stir of 
an insect in the herbage was enough to startle her. Not 
long, therefore, did she trust herself to repose here ; but 
having waited only to recover breath, arose and hurried 
forward on her way, which led her through the open 
country toward a grove of Magnolia trees, where she again 
ventured to sit down to rest for awhile, and this time with 
the more confidence, that she calculated herself to be at a 
considerable distance from the plantation house. 

After half an hour’s repose, she once more set forth on 
her way, that now led her through green savannas stretch- 
ing toward the cypress swamp. 

Here the path was lost ; but that was of little conse- 
quence, since the bourne was in sight. 

Twenty minutes’ rapid walk brought her within its ven- 
erable shades. There had been a long dry season and the 
verge of t}ie swamp scarcely deserved its name. It was 


330 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


more a wood than a swamp. She penetrated yet half a 
mile into its interior, and here, lost in its impervious shades, 
she sat down upon the fallen trunk of a thunder-stricken 
tree and yielded herself up to- the new delightful feeling of 
freedom and safety. In these thick shades who should fin’d 
her? True,, she was heated, tired, and hungry; but the 
fresh shades of the wood would cool her fever ; the velvetty 
ground invited repose ; the trunk of the fallen tree offered 
a pillow ; she would sleep and forget her hunger. So fold- 
ing her arms under her head, with a deep sigh of satisfac- 
tion she closed her eyes and yielded herself up to sleep. 

It was early in the afternoon when she fell asleep ; it was 
late in the night when she awoke. 

At first she knew not where she was — so profound had 
been her sleep, so perfect had been her forgetfulness. 

She looked up. 

The majestic cypress trees — the awful priesthood of the 
forest — stood around her lifting their solemn heads to 
Heaven. The deep-blue, starlit sky, celestial dome, bent 
over her. The dark, resplendent beaut}^ of the summer 
midnight shone around her. Nor was she alone : true, the 
beasts were in their holes, and the birds in their nests, but 
myriads of little insects were chanting their joyous, yet 
subdued hallelujahs, in harmony with the serene luminous 
darkness of the hours. 

Oh ! often had Astrea, in her beautiful island home, lin- 
gered long at her window, or sauntered late upon her piazza, 
fascinated by the infinite loveliness of night, and listening 
to those humble little choristers, who continue nature’s 
perpetual worship, by taking up the hymns of praise when 
the birds leave off at eve. 

And now, when she awoke and found herself alone in 
this southern wood, with the veiled glory of night above, 
and the subdued melody of nature around, she felt strength- 
ened, comforted, and cheered. 

Oh ! most benign are all the ministrations of nature, if 
we will only open our hearts to receive them. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 331 

Astrea had always been a loving child of nature ; and 
now, in the midst of her desolation, she still felt herself 
cherished by the universal mother. 

The holy stars, like eyes of guardian angels watching her 
from heaven, strengthened her soul. 

The venerable trees, gathered around her like protecting 
friends, comforted her heart. 

Even the little insects — so small, yet so full of joy, and 
so earnest in worship — cheered her spirits. 

“ It would seem easy to die here, and return to the bosom 
of a mother so full of benignity ; and even if I do not die, 
I feel that I shall be delivered, in some other way, from the 
destruction that I so much dread,” she said to herself, as 
she arose from her recumbent position and sat upon the 
trunk of the fallen tree. 

Here she sat, entranced, for the next hour, watching that 
beautiful, slow process, in which the sober glory of the night 
merges into the magnificent splendor of day. 

When the sun arose, flooding the whole landscape with 
dazzling light, bathing it in brilliant color, and kindling it 
into jubilant life ; and the birds awoke, filling the air with 
their joyous matutinal hymns ; and the flowers unfolded, 
breathing forth their morning offering of incense; then 
Astrea joined the worship of nature in her great temple, 
•and bowed her head in prayer. 

This finished, she arose and walked forth in quest of 
such food as the wild could afford her. 

On the outskirts of the wood she found some fine dew- 
berries, upon which she made a luscious breakfast. 

Then, refreshed, she bent her steps toward the interior 
of the wood, with only the single object of getting as far 
as possible from the neighborhood of the plantation house. 

It was strange, perhaps, almost to the verge of madness, 
for one in her condition to break into song ; but so great 
was her sense of relief from captivity and danger, and her 
enjoyment of freedom and safety ; so much was she rested 


332 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

by her sound sleep, and refreshed by her simple breakfast ; 
and finally, so perfect was her youthful sympathy with the 
joy of nature around her, that Astrea, wandering she knew 
not whither, carolled with the birds as she went ! 

Why do people, driven mad by the world of man, seek 
to escape to the world of nature ? Why does madness seek 
the woods and waters ? 

Not because it is madness, but because, in the midst of 
the mental derangement, a sure, sure instinct, guides them 
to find comfort in the loving bosom of the universal 
mother. 

All the long, long summer day, Astrea wandered leisurely, 
humming as she went. 

At sunset she reached the very heart of the wood, where, 
pausing to look around, she said to herself : 

“ This is Arcadie ! and here I could live, with my mother 
nature and her other children, all the summer long, if it 
were not for my loved ones at home !” 

At these words — “ my loved ones at home” — the song 
she had been trilling died away from her lips and out of 
her heart, and she sat down pensively at the foot of a great 
tree. 

Hark ! 

What sound is that which breaks upon her charmed ear ? 

A melodious, soft cry, exceeding strange and sweet, yet 
not the note of any bird of the air, nor the voice of the 
creature of the wood. It rises and dies away. 

She murmurs to herself: 

“ These woods are as full of music as of beauty,” and 
lifts her head to listen. 

Again those soft, clear chimes rise bell-like upon the air, 
and now they are followed by a swift pattering, as of rain- 
drops upon fallen leaves, and a rustling in the branches 
near. 

She starts to her feet. 

Oh heaven ! it is the bay of the bloodhounds 1 and they 
are on her track ! 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


333 


CHAPTER XLI. 

THE RUSE. 

■■ ■ ■ ■ “ Woman, 

For her honor struggling, hath oft shown 
Courage and strategy, which, by plumed chieftains, 

On the battle-field displayed, would have 
Won crowns and kingdoms, and the current 
Changed of the world’s history.” 

For a moment Astrea stood paralyzed — but only for a 
moment. 

Her first thought was that any attempt to escape would 
be utterly futile ; for how could she hope to outspeed the 
swift-footed hounds, whose deep-mouthed baying now 
seemed to fill the whole swamp with a wilderness of sound ! 

But in the same instant she remembered to have read 
that the smell of fresh blood would so deaden the sense 
of smell in a bloodhound that he could not follow scent. 

Quick as thought, she snatched her tiny dagger from her 
bosom, cut a deep gash in one of her fingers, smeared the 
freely-flowing blood over the surface of a large, flat stone 
that was lying near, placed it directly in her track, and 
then wrapping her finger in her handkerchief, that no drop 
of blood might perchance betray the direction of her flight 
to the hounds, she glided away still further into the swamp. 
In a short time, she came to a sluggish, shallow brook, into 
which she at once stepped and waded along the centre of 
it for some distance, for the purpose of again throwing the 
hounds off the scent, in case they should by any means re- 
gain it after passing the blood-stone she had left in their 
path. She had read of fugitive Indian captives thus throw- 
ing their savage pursuers off the trail, and she thought the 
bloodhounds (which she now heard uttering strange cries 
at some distance behind her) might be baffled by the same 
stratagem. 

After proceeding along the stream some distance, Astrea 
came to a large tree standing close to its banks, from 


334 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

which large limbs stretched droopingly across its entire 
width. One of these she found that she conld reach ; and 
it occurred to her that if she could draw herself upon it, 
and, by crawling along it, reach the trunk of the tree, she 
would be securely hidden in its thick foliage from even the 
most prying observation. 

Immediately acting upon this thought, she seized the 
limb, and after a severe struggle succeeded in reaching the 
body of the tree, which she ascended until she thought she 
would be safe from any scrutiny to which her hiding-place 
could be subjected from below, and then finding a comfort- 
able seat in the crotch of a huge limb, she sat down, calmly 
to await whatever might betide her. 

She felt she had done her best to escape, and she left the 
result of her efforts to Providence. 

The bloodhounds had for some little time ceased their 
cries altogether, and this circumstance inspired her with 
additional trustfulness and hope. 

The cause of the cessation of the bloodhounds’ cries 
was the fact that they had completely lost the scent by 
reason of Astrea’s stratagem. On arriving at the stone 
which she had prepared for them, they ran their noses over 
it after the custom of their kind, and the powerful smell 
of the fresh blood with which she had so thickly smeared 
it, rendered them utterly incapable of following the faint 
scent left by the fugitive’s flying footsteps. It was then 
that the hounds uttered those strange cries which Astrea 
heard as she was entering the brook, and which were the 
troubled, inarticulate explosions of their disappointment 
and wrath at being so hopelessly baffled. 

After a short time, and while the hounds were still giving 
voice to their dissatisfaction, Rumford and his groom rode up. 

“ What, in the fiend’s name, is the matter with the dogs ?” 
exclaimed Rumford. 

And dismounting as he spoke, the planter threw the bri- 
dle rein to his groom, and advanced to the side of the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 335 

hounds, which were at that moment running their noses for 
the fiftieth time over the blood-besmeared stone. 

No sooner did Rumford’s eyes fall on the stone, than he 
comprehended the cause of the dogs’ strange conduct and 
divined the ruse that Astrea had played him. A burst of 
rage followed this discovery ; but it was soon displaced by 
a feeling of admiration at the wit and cleverness of his 
slave, as he verily believed Astrea to be. 

Catching up the stone, he held it up to the vision of his 
groom, and exclaimed : 

“ See here, Sam ! Isn’t that a neat trick for that quad- 
roon witch to play me and my dogs ! She’s smart enough 
to be a white girl, that’s certain ; and I don’t know but she 
may really be Mrs. Colonel Greville, after all — only she 
can’t be,” he added to himself, “because that lady’s appear- 
ance is too fresh in my memory for me to be imposed upon 
by Zora’s mad tale.” 

Then hurling the stone far to one side, and again address- 
ing the groom, he said : 

“ Come along this way, Sam, with the horses. I must 
get the dogs away from here, or they’ll never find the scent 
again. The blood was fresh on the stone, and so it must 
have recently come from Zora’s veins. Therefore, she can- 
not be very far from the spot.” 

So saying, Rumford called the dogs after him, and strode 
along rapidly, casting penetrating glances on every side, 
and followed, at a little distance, by Sam with the two horses. 

As they chanced to take nearly the same direction that 
Astrea had gone, they after a time came to the stream 
down whose bed she had waded ; but they struck it much 
lower down than she did, and the consequence was that 
they came upon it at a point almost opposite to the tree 
in which she had taken refuge. 

“ This is fortunate,” said Rumford, as he saw the water. 
“ I will now wash these dogs’ noses, and prepare them to 
take up the scent again in case we should be so lucky as to 
cross Zora’s track.” 


336 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

He at once set about the task, and gave the noses of 
Castor and Pollux a thorough washing, much to their dis- 
gust. Then looking about him for a short time, he said : 

“Now, Sam, dismount and tie the horses to that tree 
yonder, where they will have good stamping ground, and 
then we’ll make a thorough search up and down this brook. 
Come, hurry, you rascal !” said Rumford, with a manifesta- 
tion of impatience. “ Why are you so slow ! It will be 
sundown before we get underway, unless you make haste.” 

“ De fact am, marse, dat I doesn’t like de notion ob 
leaben’ de hosses tied up heah, while we goes a rampagin’ 
about troo de swamp,” said Sam, with a dubious shake of 
the head. “ How do we know what may happen to de 
poor dumb critters while we is gone ? De bears may eat 
um up ; or de hoss t’ieves, which you knows, marse, as how 
de swamp am de place where dey hide, may come and 
steal um ; and den what you gwine to say when you come 
and fine Saladin done gone, or see his bones a lyin’ aroun’ 
heah picked as clean as a turkey’s at Chris’mas !” 

“ There is no danger, either from bears or horse thieves,” 
Rumford replied, at the same time patting and caressing his 
horse, which was a handsome chestnut, and was claimed to 
be a regular thoroughbred. “ If I thought,” he added, “ that 
any harm could come to Saladin, I don’t know but I would 
give up my plan — and the girl too, sooner than lose him. 
But there is no danger. There are no bears about, and no 
horse thief would dare attempt to steal the horses from 
under my very nose.” 

“ Don’t you be too sartain sure ob dat, marse,” said Sam. 
" S’pose a hoss tief get on Saladin’s back onct, how you 
gwine to catch him, I should like to know, when dere aint 
anoder hoss in all de country dat can hole a candle to 
Saladin’s heels. I tells you, marse, j r ou’d better let dis 
chile stay heah wid de hosses, while you an’ de dogs looks 
for Zora. Dat’s my notion.” 

“ Perhaps you are right, Sam.” returned Rumford. “At 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


837 


any rate, you could not help me much in my search after 
Zora, and so you may stay with the horses. But mind 
that you keep awake, else I may find your bones picked on 
my return. Or perhaps, that ‘ Spirit of the Swamp’ that 
you darkies so greatly fear, may pay you a visit, and 
trouble your dreams.” 

At the mention of the “ Spirit of the Swamp,” Sam turned 
fairly blue with terror, and cried, in supplicating tones : 

“ Please, marse, don’t go for to talk light ob dat. De 
Sperit don’t like to be made fun ob, whateber you do ; so 
please let de Sperit alone, or dis chile won’t be worf a per- 
simmon ag’in for a week r he won’t.” 

“ Well, well, never mind ! I didn’t mean any disrespect 
to the Spirit. But see that you keep wide awake, and if 
you should hear me halloo, you halloo back again, that I 
may know in exactly what direction you are. And, by the 
way, should any thing unusual happen here, you just try 
your voice at a yell which would frighten every thing in the 
swamp, including bears, horse thieves, and the Spirit itself ;” 
and so saying, Rumford called the hounds, and strode away 
down the stream, the dogs running on in advance of him, 
and was soon out of sight. 

Sam, meanwhile, after muttering and grumbling at his 
master’s propensity to make light of the “ Swamp Spirit,” 
(which was a prodigious terror to all the superstitious ne- 
groes, every one of whom was certain that he or she had 
seen it gliding at dusk through the swamp, or about the 
plantation, on many occasions,) sat down at the foot of a 
large tree near by, and leaning his back and head against 
it, was soon in a dreamy doze, and forgetful of all the dan- 
gers that he had argued would be impending over the 
horses if they should be left alone. 

Astrea, perched in her tree, had heard nearly all the pre- 
ceding conversation between Rumford and his groom, and 
it had aroused varied emotions in her bosom. 

She feared that her pursuer might come and examine 
21 


388 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


the tree she was hiding in, and if he could not see her, the 
bloodhounds might detect her presence by their keen scent. 
And this made her think of her cut finger and the blood 
upon her handkerchief that she had wrapped around it. 
She removed the handkerchief and found it saturated with 
blood. This excited fresh fears of discovery. Surely the 
hounds would scent all that blood, if they should come 
underneath the tree ! And she could not make away with 
it. To throw the handkerchief from her would only increase 
her danger, as it might fall beneath the tree and arrest the 
attention of Rumford if he should pass that way. Of course, 
he would come back again ; and he might cross the brook 
and come up on that side. The more she thought of these 
things, the more alarmed she became ; until at last she felt 
that to stay in the tree would lead to her certain detection. 
But how was she to find any better hiding-place ? She 
might be detected if she came down. In her wanderings, 
she might come upon her pursuer. At any rate, the more 
tracks she made, the more likely the hounds would be to 
get on the scent. 

Suddenly a new thought occurred to her. Why could 
she not take advantage of Rumford’s absence to get pos- 
session of Saladin, and so make sure of escape, as his fleet- 
ness was so great that the remaining horse could not long 
keep even in sight of him ! But how could she circumvent 
Sam ? She turned the question over in her own mind, and 
soon came to a conclusion. There were three ways in which 
she might do it. She might steal so quietly upon him as to 
be able to mount Saladin and be olf before he would be 
able to prevent it ; or, in case of interference on Sam’s part, 
she might resort to her dagger ; or, she might personate 
the dreaded Swamp Spirit, frighten Sam out of his senses, 
and by that means accomplish her object. 

The last plan struck her as the best. She resolved to 
personate the “ Spirit,” and at once began to descend from 
her hiding-place, to put her scheme in execution. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


889 


CHAPTER XLII. 

SAM’S TERRORS. 

Black spirits and white, 

Blue spirits and gray.— Shakespeare. 

Astrea descended from her hiding-place with so much 
caution, and so silently, that Sam’s drowsy ear received no 
intimation of her presence. After reaching the ground, she 
remained behind the huge trunk of the cypress while “ get- 
ting herself up” for the part she was to play. Her resources 
for preparing to personate the “ Spirit of the Swamp” were 
limited ; but she felt confident that she could present a suf- 
ficiently startling appearance to upset Sam’s self-possession 
long enough to enable her to accomplish her object, espe- 
cially as it was becoming so dusky in the thick gloom of 
the swamp, that, at a little distance, an innocent object 
might be magnified by a mind as fearful and superstitious 
as the negro’s into a terror-inspiring apparition. 

Taking her blood-blotched pocket handkerchief, she cut 
holes in it for her eyes and mouth, and then tied it tightly over 
her face. This simple contrivance, taken in connection with 
her flowing white dress, gave her a really ghostly and fear- 
inspiring countenance; and on looking at herself in the 
mirror furnished by the water of the brook, to which she 
cautiously advanced, she was certain that she needed nothing 
more, except the assumption of a sepulchral tone of voice, 
to enable her to drive the superstitious groom as nearly out 
of his senses as would be necessary for her purpose. 

So, crossing the brook, and keeping a tree between her 
and the negro, she cautiously advanced toward the spot 
where Saladin was quietly standing beneath the branches 
of a wide-spreading cjqpress. On arriving at Saladin’s 
side, she pulled her sun bonnet over her face, that he might 
not be frightened by its unusual appearance, and patting him 


340 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


gently, she spoke cooingly to him, in a low tone, so as to 
win his confidence. Finding him gentle, and not at all 
disposed to resent her familiarity, she quietly loosed him 
from the tree. 

Thus far, she had not attracted Sam’s attention in the 
slightest degree. He sat perfectly still at the foot of the 
tree against which he was leaning, and seemed to be either 
sound asleep or else utterly absorbed in meditation. So 
still and unconscious did he appear, that Astrea began to 
hope that she would be able to mount Saladin and dash 
away before Sam would be aroused, and which she probably 
might have done, had she not stepped upon a dry stick 
that snapped like a pistol beneath her foot, and caused the 
dozing groom to open his eyes and gaze around wdth a 
startled look. 

Astrea immediately pushed back her bonnet from her 
face, and drawing up her form to its utmost height, she 
raised her right arm (keeping hold of Saladin ’s bridle with 
her left hand, which was behind her), and shook her finger 
menacingly at the astounded negro. 

The effect on Sam was prodigious. Rising on his knees, 
he clasped his hands supplicatingly before him, his skin as- 
suming an ashen hue, his eyes glaring, and his teeth chat- 
tering. 

For a moment, Astrea was at a loss what to do next 

whether to try to mount Saladin, without saying a word, 
before Sam could offer any interference, or whether to seek 
to deepen the effect of her appearance on him by “ making 
a few remarks appropriate to the occasion.” Fearing that 
an attempt to get upon Saladin’s back might seem such an 
unspiritual operation to the groom as to disillude him to a 
dangerous degree, she resolved to call upon her vocal pow- 
ers to help her play out the game to the safest possible con- 
clusion. 

She therefore advanced a few steps toward the quaking 
negro, and glowering upon him in as ghostly a manner as 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 341 

she knew how to assume, she again raised her hand, and in 
her most sepulchral tones, said : 

“ Rash, intruding man ! what are you doing there, upon 
the sacred spot where my body has so long lain buried Z” 
The effect of this address upon Sam was highly electrical. 
Giving a sudden leap and scramble to one side, he again 
came upon his knees, clasped his hands, and raising them 
deprecatingly toward what he veritably believed the dreaded 
“ Swamp Spirit,” he groaned out : 

“ I didn’t know it ! ’deed an’ ’deed I didn’t, Mist’us 
Sperit. I neber knowed as how your sacred body was buried 
anywhere, ’deed I didn’t — leastways at de foot ob dat tree, 
or I neber would hab sot dis yer ole carcase down dere — ■ 
neber, so help me heaben an’ all de angels — neber.” 

“ That is false,” replied Astrea, in her best ghost tone. 
“You knew that my bones were lying there, and you came 
here to dig them up and carry them away.” 

“ ’Fore God, Mist’us Sperit,” cried Sam, with the perspi- 
ration starting upon his face, “ dis yer chile neber t ’ought 
ob such a ting in all de born days ob his life. I jes’ sot 
down dere to wait for Marse Rumford to come back after 
he an’ de houn’s had tak’t a look for Miss Zora, who’s run’d 
away from de plantation into dis yer swamp. An’ dat’s 
jes’ de blessed trufe, an’ nuffin’ else ; an’ ef you’ll jes’ wait 

till Marse Rumford gets back an dat’s his yell, now,” 

exclaimed Sam, in a tone of relief, as a loud halloo rang 
through the swamp ; “ he aint fur away, an’ I’ll jes yell back 

again, so he’ll know jes’ whar to come, an’ ” 

“ Silence !” said Astrea, firmly. The idea that Rumford 
and the bloodhounds were on their way back, nerved her 
with desperation, and brightened all her faculties. “ You 
are deceiving me 1” she continued, at the same time drawing 
her dagger from her bosom and advancing toward the ne- 
gro, but without letting go of the bridle of Saladin, who 
consequently followed her. “ You are deceiving me !” she 
repeated, menacingly, “ and I must punish you by cutting 


342 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


out your lying tongue 1” and she held up the gleaming dag- 
ger to his view. 

This was too much for Sam’s nerves to bear. Springing 
to his feet, just as another halloo from Rumford came 
sounding through the swamp, he gave a responsive yell of 
terror, and dashed away in the direction he believed his 
master and the dogs to be, and was speedily out of sight. 

Astrea, fully appreciating the preciousness of moments, 
at once pulled the blood-stained handkerchief from her 
face, led Saladin to the side of a log, by the assistance of 
which she clambered into the saddle, and rode off, in a 
direction opposite to that from which Rumford ’s halloos 
had come, as fast as the impeding branches and logs, and 
her own uncomfortable seat upon her master’s saddle, would 
permit. 

After proceeding a short distance, it occurred to her that 
she ought not to leave the other horse for Rumford to pur- 
sue her with ; and riding back, she, with her dagger, cut 
the bridle with which the horse was tied, and taking hold 
of one piece of the rein, she led the animal away as fast as 
she could make him travel ; and as he seemed to like the 
idea of being permitted to accompany his companion Sala- 
din, and went on as briskly as Astrea could ride through 
the swamp, she found that the taking of him along did not 
impede her flight. She was also confirmed in the wisdom 
of her action, by the reflection that a reckless rider, like 
Rumford, mounted on an inferior horse, might easily have 
overtaken her in the swamp, inasmuch as she could not 
there urge Saladin to any thing like the speed he was capa- 
ble of showing. 

In the course of half an hour Astrea emerged from the 
swamp, and came upon a road, running east and w’est (as 
she could tell by the last glinting of the sun’s rays on the 
western horizon), and leading she knew not whither. It 
did not seem to be a road that was much travelled, as it 
was to some extent overgrown with grass ; and as far as 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 343 

she could see in any direction there was not the slightest 
sign of a human habitation. Which way to go, she knew 
not. It might be that in one direction or the other the 
road led to Rumford’s plantation, or so near it that her 
safety would be endangered should she be so unfortunate 
as to go thitherward. 

After turning the matter over in her mind for a moment, 
it occurred to her that if the horses knew the way home, 
and were left to their own guidance, they would be likely 
to take the homeward way, and so she resolved to see what 
direction they would go when left to themselves. She 
therefore let go of the rein of the led horse, and allowed 
the bridle to lie upon Saladin’s neck. The horses at once 
took their way eastward. 

“ That must be the way to Rumford’s,” thought Astrea, 
“ if either way leads to his plantation ; so I’ll take the 
other course. But I don’t want to lead that horse any 
longer. I’ll let him go on toward the east, while I ride 
Saladin westward. Then, if my pursuers track me hither, 
they will find that the horses have gone in different direc- 
tions, but they will not be able to tell which one carried me 
away on his back. That will baffle them again, and give 
me more time.” 

Acting upon this theory, Astrea gave the led horse a 
sharp blow with a switch that she had provided herself with 
as a substitute for a riding whip, which sent him cantering 
along the road to the east, while she turned Saladin’s head 
and rode at a brisk pace in the opposite direction, the gloom 
of approaching night rapidly closing around her unknown 
path, which, for aught she knew, might be thickly strewn 
with dangers. The lonely wanderer, faint for lack of sus- 
tenance, and exhausted with toil and excitement, felt the 
hazardousness of her situation in all its bitterness ; but 
putting up a prayer to Heaven for protection, she rode on 
into the gathering darkness with unfaltering trust in that 
Fatherly Power which had already so signally rescued her 
from what had seemed unescapable perils. 


344 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


We will now return to Rumford and his sable coadjutor. 

The last we saw of Sam he was rushing madly through 
the swamp, in the direction whence he heard his master’s 
halloos, in order to escape the doom threatened him by 
what he believed to be the incensed Spirit of the Swamp. 

The frightened negro so filled the swamp with his yells 
of terror, as he ran, that he no longer heard the voice of 
Rumford. He rushed on, over logs and through bushes ; 
and as every uncouth-looking stump and waving bush 
seemed to him, as it loomed through the gloom, to be a 
threatening spirit of wrath, the poor fellow was actually 
in danger of losing what little sense nature had endowed 
him with. And at last, when a vine caught his foot, and 
sent him heels-over-head into a clump of brambles, he 
thought he was actually in the clutches of the fiends, and 
roared for mercy with a vehemence and strength of lungs 
that caused his master, who was not far off, to hasten to 
the spot in astonishment and alarm. 

On coming up with his yelling groom, Rumford seized 
hold of his leg, and dragging him from the brambles, 
sternly demanded an explanation of his inexplicable con- 
duct. But Sam was too much under the influence of his 
superstitious terror to give his master an explanation. He 
could only beg for mercy, and protest that he had never 
done any thing to injure any “ sperit” whatever in all the 
born days of his life, so help him heaven. 

Rumford at last became so impatient that he seized Sam 
by the ears and shook him, and cuffed him, till the physical 
pain overcame the mental superstition, and brought the 
fellow to his senses. But even then, he could get no satis- 
faction of him. Sam told him how the “ Swamp Sperit” 
had come suddenly upon him, “ lookin’ de awfullest, marse, 
ob any t’ing eber seed on dis yer yurth,” and accused him 
of trying to dig up its body, that had been buried (as Sam 
told it) at the foot of the tree where he had sat down, for 
ever so many thousand years. And that when he denied 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


345 


having any such' intention, and was only waiting for his 
master to come back, “de sperit drawed a awful sharp 
knife out ob its bosom, and proceeded to cut out dis yer 
chile’s tongue by de roots, which I knows, marse, as how 
it would have done, sart’in sure, only I heerd you holler 
and run’d away to meet you, which I’m glad I did.” 

Rumford ^vas non-plussed. That Sam had seen some- 
thing , he felt sure, as the fellow’s terror had been too gen- 
uine to spring from nothing. But what could it have been ? 
He did not believe in the existence of spirits, but he did 
believe in the existence of horse thieves. He feared some 
of the latter had played a trick on Sam, and frightened him 
away, that they might make off with the horses. This 
alarmed him excessively ; and putting the dogs on the track 
that Sam had made in his flight (for it had become too 
dark in the swamp to be guided by the sense of vision), he 
followed them as speedily as possibly to the place where the 
horses had been left. 

On seeing that both of the horses were gone, Rumford 
was confirmed in his idea that the whole affair had been a 
ruse of horse thieves, and vented his rage at Sam, by pour- 
ing out a volley of imprecations, and threats of vengeance, 
that almost made his woolly hair stand straight on end. 
Having thus given vent to his anger and chagrin, he was 
about to start for home, when his attention was attracted 
by something white lying on the ground near by, and at 
which the dogs were snuffing eagerly. On picking it up, 
he found it to be a lady’s pocket handkerchief, spotted with 
blood. Instantly it flashed upon him that that was Zora’s 
(Astrea’s) handkerchief; and that it was she who had per- 
sonated the Swamp Spirit, for the purpose of frightening 
Sam, and getting possession of one of the horses to escape 
upon. But what had become of the other horse? Zora 
could not want both, and she had no accomplice. This 
part of the mystery he soon solved by taking it for granted 
that the horse not taken by Zora had broken loose to follow 


846 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


after his companion, or to go home — and homeward Rum- 
ford himself now went, with a reckless haste that put Sam 
to his best pedestrianism. 

It was nearly nine o’clock when Rumford arrived at his 
plantation, where he found his overseer, Steppins, and sev- 
eral of the house servants, in a state of wonder bordering 
on alarm ; owing to the fact that the horse which Sam had 
ridden away a few hours before, when he went after the 
hounds with his master, had returned home alone and 
riderless. No sooner did Rumford learn that the groom’s 
horse had returned than he made eager inquiries as to the 
direction whence he had come, and when he had arrived. 

Steppins stated that he had met the horse, half an hour 
before, as he (the overseer) was strolling down the old 
Lighthouse road — (the road that Astrea had struck, on 
emerging from tke\wamp, and which owed its name to the 
fact that it led to the ruins of a lighthouse that years before 
had stood upon a high point on the river bank, many miles 
below Rumford ’s plantation) — for a walk. The horse was 
trotting along the road toward the plantation, and Step- 
pins, recognizing him, had caught and mounted him, and 
ridden some ways back along the road to see if he could 
discover any signs of Sam or his master ; and getting no 
trace of them, he had ridden back to the house, to await 
the development of events. He had become very uneasy, 
he said, about the absence of Mr. Rumford and his groom, 
especially as, on examining the bridle rein of the horse, 
which seemed to have been broken, he found that it had 
been cut. “ This,” said Steppins, “ showed that it was not 
altogether an accident that the horse was thus found loose, 
and I couldn’t account for it.” 

“ I can,” said Rumford, savagely, and bringing his hand 
down heavily on the table before which he had seated him- 
self. “ I can account for it. The bridle was cut by that 
girl Zora. I had thought that the horse broke loose, in 
order to follow Saladin ; but now I see that she cut him 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 347 

loose, and took him off on purpose to prevent immediate 
pursuit. She is a smart girl, and no mistake— altogether 
too smart to lose. Go to the stable, Sam, and saddle Ro- 
anoke and Duroc. If you have them at the gate in ten 
minutes, I’ll give you a silver dollar. If you do not, Til 
have you whipped /” 

Sam instantly disappeared, and Rumford, turning to 
Steppins, said : 

“We’ll give Zora another chase. The moon is coming 
up bright — almost as bright as day, and she has not more 
than an hour the start. She must have come out of the 
swamp, upon the old Lighthouse road, and then leaving 
Sam’s horse to take its own course, she rode Saladin away 
in the opposite direction. I cannot afford to lose either her 
or Saladin, and when it comes to losing them both, that is 
more than any man could* stand. I’d ride all night first — 
yes, half-a-dozen nights and days in succession. That 
young gipsy has excited my admiration. What a pity she 
isn’t really white.” 

And going to a cupboard, Rumford took therefrom a 
decanter and a small glass, and filling the latter with 
brandy, tossed it off, with a smack of his lips, and said : 

“ That will keep off the night chills. I must give Sam a 
dose of it, to keep his spirits up. If you were only a good 
horseman, Steppins, you should go along with us. I think 
I’ll take another glass,” suiting the action to the word. 

“ There comes Sam with the horses,” he said, as he set 
down the glass. “ Bring that bottle along, Steppins, and 
the glass too. It will fire Sam up.” 

So saying, he strode to the gate, followed by the over- 
seer with the drinking implements. Sam was there, inside 
of his ten minutes, and in good spirits, at the idea of having 
won his silver dollar, which were still more exhilarated 
when Steppins, at the command of Rumford, poured out 
and handed him a glass of the brandy. 

“ Go into the house and stay up till I come back, Step- 


848 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


pins,” said Rumford, as he and Sam mounted their horses ; 
“ and keep that bottle for a companion. Tell the girls not 
to go to bed either. I shall have Zora back before mid- 
night, and then we shall all want some supper. Where are 
the hounds ? Here, Castor ! here, Pollux 1 come, boys, 
come 1 You may be of service to us yet.” 

The dogs came bounding from the house, at their master’s 
call, and the whole party — master, servant, and hounds — 
were soon dashing along the old Lighthouse road, the 
bright rays of a southern moon giving them almost as 
much light as the sun itself. 

And where was the poor fugitive whom they were thus 
pursuing to the death ! — aye, to drag her back to a doom 
which to her would be worse than ten thousand deaths ! 


CHAPTER XLIII. 

AT BAY. 

She stands, as stands the stricken deer, 

Checked midway in the fearful chase, 

When bursts upon his eye and ear 
The gaunt gray robber baying near 
Between him and his hiding-place ; 

While still behind, with yell and blow, 

Sweeps like a storm the coming foe ! — Whittier. 

Astrea had not ridden very fast along the old road. She 
had never practised equestrianism much ; and besides, she 
found it awkward riding on Rumford ’s saddle. She could 
not fix the stirrups so as to get any support from them, 
without first dismounting, and she did not like to do that 
— she feared some evil would come of it. So she rode on, 
as best she could, for several miles, when, coming to a clear 
brook that crossed the road, over which a rude bridge was 
thrown, she thought she would dismount, and try to quench 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 349 

her thirst, which had been so great for some time as to 
occasion her much suffering. 

She accordingly dismounted, and leading Saladin to the 
edge of the brook, on one side of the road, allowed him to 
drink his fill, while she knelt on the turf and did the same, 
taking care, however, to keep fast hold of the bridle, lest 
the horse should run away from fier. 

After resting by the brookside for a short time, she con- 
trived to fix the stirrups (by shortening one, and throwing 
the other over the saddle so as to bring them both on the 
same side, as she had seen countrywomen do in New 
England, during her school-girl days) so she could ride 
more easily and to much better advantage ; and then lead- 
ing Saladin to the side of the bridge, and standing upon it, 
she mounted him, and rode on at a moderate pace. 

She did not fear pursuit that night. She had reasoned 
to herself that Rumford and Sam would be a long time in 
finding their way home. She thought she left them much 
further from the plantation than was really the case, and 
supposed that it would be midnight at least, if not morning, 
before they would reach the house. Then nobody could 
imagine, she thought, which way she had gone, nor get any 
trace of her until late in the following day, and by that time 
she would be — where ? 

She did not know where. But she would be far from 
Rumford. And she could pass for a young lady among 
strangers — of that she felt assured ; and so she rode along, 
hoping after awhile to come to some plantation, or other 
abode, of whose inmates she could obtain shelter and food, 
and under whose roof she could find repose. 

Thus thinking, Astrea rode leisurely along, with a feeling 
of comparative security, until she was suddenly startled by 
the sound of horses galloping over the bridge which she 
had crossed not a great while before. She judged by the 
sound that they were coming at a rapid gait, and a deadly 
fear smote to her heart. She felt an instinctive convic- 


350 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


tion that the horsemen were in pursuit of her ; and touch- 
ing Saladin with her switch, she accelerated his pace to a 
rapid gallop, in the hope of, at least, not allowing her pur- 
suers to lessen the distance between them. 

But Astrea found riding at such a swift gait to be weari- 
some work, and she soon came to the conclusion that in 
her exhausted condition, she could not long permit Saladin 
to travel at such a rate of speed. Meanwhile, she tried to 
keep her ear attentive to any sound of hoofs that might 
possibly reach it from behind, in order to judge whether or 
not her pursuers were gaining upon her. 

There had been but few elevations in the road thus far, 
and they were too slight to enable her to see any distance 
back ; besides, there were too many turns in the road for 
that ; so she had no chance of seeing if she was pursued. 
But by-and-by she heard the sound of horses galloping 
behind her — faintly, it is true, but she could not be mis- 
taken. In a short time she heard them more distinctly. 
They were gaining upon her, and she had done her best ! 

She could not ride any faster than she was then going ; 
and even at her present pace, she felt that she could not 
hold out a great while longer. 

A turn in the road brought her in sight of a hill, several 
rods ahead. That alarmed her, as she feared that in pass- 
ing over its summit her pursuers would see her, the moon 
was shining so brightly ; and to prevent that, she rode close 
to the side, in the shade of the tall trees. She cast a quick 
glance behind ; but the turn in the road shut off the view. 
It was not so ahead, however. The descent from the hill 
was gradual, and the road was straight as an arrow’s flight, 
as far as she could see. 

She knew that her pursuers were fast gaining upon her ; 
and from the top of this hill she was just passing they 
would be almost certain to get a view of her. Astrea 
almost determined to abandon Saladin and seek refuge in 
the forest. There would be no dogs to find her this time, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 351 

she thought ; and she could certainly hide so that no human 
eyes could discover her place of concealment. 

But as she thus communed with herself, Saladin was 
galloping on, and she experienced a feeling of terror at 
the idea of stopping him and dismounting. While she was 
being borne so swiftly along, it seemed as though she must 
be safe ; but if she stopped — if she dismounted — why, there 
was no knowing what ills might come. So she kept on, 
until hearing a shout behind her, she turned and saw two 
horsemen just coming over the brow of the hill — one a 
white man, the other a negro. 

“ It is they ! Rumford and Sam l” she exclaimed. “ Oh, 
I am lost ! I cannot hold out another half hour.” 

In her despair she struck Saladin several sharp blows 
with her whip, and away he flew like the wind. Astrea 
nearly lost her seat several times, and tried in vain to rein 
up her steed. Becoming greatly alarmed she turned him 
out of the road, against a bank of earth, and by that means 
stopped him with a suddenness that threw her forward 
upon his neck. This occurrence determined her to aban- 
don him, and trust her safety to flight and concealment in 
the woods. 

She alighted, ran along the bank until she came to a low, 
shelving place, over which she scrambled into some bushes, 
and thence across a small open space, into the woods. As 
she saw how thick the underbrush was in the forest, and as 
the gloom deepened about her, she began to feel as though 
she was safe once more. Pressing on, she soon came to 
another open and cleared space, which stretched away as 
far as she could see. This troubled her, as the moon shone 
so brightly down upon the field that she knew she could be 
seen, should she attempt to cross it, at a considerable dis- 
tance. So she kept along in the edge of the woods skirting 
the field. In crossing a rise of ground, she saw, at some 
distance, what seemed to be a group of buildings — a planta- 
tion house, and the cabins and outbuildings surrounding it. 


352 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

Should she go there and claim shelter ? What if Rumford 
should track her there! Would the family believe her 
story ? or would they not rather believe his f 

While she was debating this matter in her mind, the bay 
of the bloodhounds struck upon her ear, and seemed to 
freeze the blood in her heart. Oh what a mistake she had 
made in abandoning Saladin ! If she had supposed that 
Rumford had his hounds with him she would not have done 
so. But now it was too late ! They had found where she 
had left the horse, and the dogs had again been put upon 
her track. But she could again baffle them, as she had done 
before. Drawing her dagger from her bosom, she looked 
hastily about her for something to smear with blood. She 
could find nothing but a few sticks. These would not do, 
and in despair at the delay, as the baying of the hounds 
came rapidly nearer, she caught her bonnet from her head 
to use for that purpose, when she heard the pattering of 
feet in the bushes, ancb looking back, she saw the blood- 
hounds in sight — she could see the glare of their eyes, as 
they strained to reach their prey, and heard their cry fiercer 
than ever, as they saw their victim within their certain 
grasp. 

She turned to fly ; but in an instant they had dashed 
through the bushes, leaped to her shoulders, and dragged 
her to the ground. 

She swooned with terror; but the last sight that her 
fainting eyes took in was the form of Rumford, as he 
emerged from the thicket and stood over her. 

“ Good dogs ! Pretty pups ! come off now,” said Rum- 
ford, addressing the hounds, who having pulled Astrea to 
the ground, now held her fast without hurting her. 

The dogs returned, and crouched at their master’s feet. 

“ Here, Sam,” he continued, addressing the groom, who 
had followed him, “ take up this girl and carry her to where 
we left our horses.” 

The man silently obeyed, and they left the wood by a 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 353 

short cut unknown to Astrea, and came to a spot where the 
two horses were tied. 

“ Give her to me now, and mount,” said Bumford. 

The negro did so, and Bumford sat the still fainting form 
of Astrea on the horse before the man, laid her head upon 
his broad chest, and directed him to support her with his 
left arm while he guided his horse with his right. Bumford 
took charge of Saladin (who had been caught and tied with 
the other horses), leading him by the bridle rein ; and thus 
they went on toward home. In due time they arrived at 
the old plantation house, where the still swooning Astrea 
was taken to her own room and laid upon the bed, and 
given up to the charge of Venus. 

The first object that Astrea’s eyes fell upon when she 
awoke from her swoon, was the kind face of Venus bending 
over her and dropping tears. 

“Oh-h-h, Venus J” exclaimed the poor girl, with a pro- 
longed wail of despair. 

“ ’Tis hard, honey, berry hard ; I did all I could for you ; 
I kept ’em off your track all day yes ’day an’ dis mornin’, 
too, wid a cock an’ a bull story of your being gone to bed 
to sleep de gran’ roun’s. But at las’, you see, chile, dat 
tale wouldn’t bear tellin’ no longer, an’ so dey bus’ open 
your room an’ foun’ you gone, an’ den went to hunt you.” 

Astrea suddenly started, felt in her bosom, and then 
smiled. The little poniard was safe. It was now past mid- 
night. She knew that the dreaded interview with Bumford 
could not take place until the morning ; she knew, also, 
that after that no further grace would be granted her. She 
determined to husband her feelings to meet the crisis. 

So when Venus brought her up the very best supper that 
the kind-hearted girl could make from the plentiful pantry 
of Ben Lomond, Astrea did justice to it. 

Venus carried away the service, and soon returned, drag- 
ging a narrow mattress after her. 

11 Ole Marse say how he let me sleep in here long o’ you 

22 


354 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

to-night, asyou’s poorly,” she said, as she spread her mat- 
tress beside Astrea’s bed. 

“ Oh, Yenus, that will be a comfort indeed 1” 

“ Yes, honey, I knows it will. I spects he is a gwine to 
kill yon wid kindness now, and conquer you dat way ; but 
I spects he gwine lock us in for all dat — dere now, wdiat I 
tell you ?” whispered Yenus, as the click of the turning key 
sounded in the lock. 

Astrea did not mind that, now her fate could not be de- 
cided before morning, and then it would be in her own 
hands. And for the night, the presence of Yenus secured 
her from intrusion. 

Yenus settled herself upon her mattress, and was soon in 
the deep and heavy sleep peculiar to her race. 

Astrea, filled with troubled thought, lay long with her 
eyes closed, yet not asleep. The room was in perfect dark- 
ness. How long exactly she had lain thus is not known, 
when again, as on a former occasion, a soft, bright light 
seemed to penetrate even through her closed eyelids, and 
cause her to open them ; and again, oh ! wonderful ! she saw 
the shining apparition of the beautiful woman advancing 
toward her ; but now, though the central star was still a 
charred mass in her crown, and the dark stain remained 
upon her garment, yet her countenance had lost a portion 
of that seemingly infinite despair it had worn before. She 
advanced and stood before Astrea, motionless in form and 
feature, as if waiting to be addressed. 

And again Astrea felt a nameless influence dispel her 
fears and impell her to speak. 

“ Spirit ! what is your will with me to-night ?” 

The voice that answered proceeded not from those beau- 
tiful but motionless spirit lips, and fell not upon the outward 
ears of the hearer, but seemed rather to proceed from the 
depths of Astrea’s own soul. 

“ Lady ! you have not been regardless of my warning ; 
you have not hesitated to expose your life to the dreadful 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


855 


death of a slow starvation in the woods, rather than trans- 
gress. But I had leave to watch you while you slept to 
keep away the deadly reptile of the thicket, and the deadlier 
miasma of the swamp. So that you took no harm. I will 
be with you again in your hour of greatest peril. Fear not, 
therefore, to meet the wicked man. You shall be saved.” 

And before these words were fairly finished, the vision 
had faded away. 

For a few moments Astrea remained in amazement, un- 
certain whether she had seen, or dreamed ; of one thing 
only she felt sure — that, whether vision or dream, it had 
greatly revived her hopes, and so she fell asleep and slept 
till morning. 

Yenus was the first to wake and roll up her mattress. 

And so when Astrea opened her eyes they fell upon the 
kind creature, who stood before the dressing-glass tying up 
her turban. 

Astrea also arose and began to look around for the white 
dress she had worn since leaving the ship, but she saw no 
trace of it. 

Yenus caught her reflection in the glass and turned around. 

“ Lor, honey, you up ? Dat right. You looking for your 
gown ? Yes, honey, you jes’ ought to have seen it when I 
took it ofien you las’ night. Not fit for ole beggar woman, 
much less young gall. So I jes’ sent it down to de laundry. 
Dere, honey, dem’s sent in here for you,” she said, pointing 
to a large trunk that stood open in a corner of the room. 

Astrea went to this trunk, wondering whether it contained 
the wardrobe of her unhappy predecessor in this room — 
poor Lula. There were gay and even costly dresses, and 
all articles requisite to a woman’s toilet. 

' Astrea selected the plainest — a black silk. It fitted her 
near enough for service, and when she had washed her face 
and combed her hair, she put it on. 

“ De door’s unlocked, chile,” said Yenus, as she tried the 
handle and found it so. 


356 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

They both went out into the passage, where they parted, 
Yenus to go into the kitchen and Astrea into the dining- 
room, where her “ duties” lay. 

Rumford was standing at one of the windows with a 
newspaper in his hand. He turned, and, on seeing Astrea, 
said : 

“ Come ! that is well ! not sulky this morning ? That is 
right. But I say, my girl, you must never play me that 
trick again ; never give me so much trouble again as long 
as we both live. But, however, we will talk about that after 
breakfast, when, once for all, we must come to an under- 
standing.” 

“Yes, sir,” replied Astrea, with grave dignity. 

“And now, Zora, ring for my chocolate.” 

Astrea obeyed, and the summons was answered by Cy« 
bele, bearing the pot of chocolate. 


CHAPTER XLlY. 

THE INTERVIEW. 

I know thee not, old man ; fall to thy prayers ; 

How ill white hairs become a fool and jester ; 

Make less thy body, hence, and more thy grace ; 

Leave gormandizing ; know the grave doth gape 

For thee thrice wider than for other men. 

Reply not to me with a fool-born jest : 

Presume not that I am the thing I seem.— Shakespeare. 

When Rumford had finished breakfasting, he deliberately 
arose, locked the dining-room door leading into the passage, 
took the key from it, and turning to Astrea, said : 

“ Sit down and get your breakfast, my girl ; I prefer, 
since you are to be, in some degree, my companion, that 
you do not eat or in any way associate intimately with the 
negroes in the kitchen ; neither do I suppose that, brought 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


857 


up as you have been, such association would be agreeable 
to you. You will always, therefore, take your meals in 
this room, after me. Sit down now and breakfast, and when 
you have finished, come to me in the adjoining parlor. We 
must arrive at a mutual understanding, and I shall take 
care this time that you do not elude the interview. ” 

And so saying, Rumford passed into the front parlor, 
stretching the communicating door wide open so that he 
could keep Astrea in sight. 

Astrea made no reply to his speech, which seemed indeed 
to require none. She sat down at the table and slowly 
drank a cup of chocolate. 

Rumford, in the meantime, walked up and down the 
floor of the parlor, and watched. 

Astrea did not linger at the table with the view of defer- 
ring the interview. That which she felt to be inevitable, 
she resolved to meet fearlessly, trusting still in Heaven. 
She soon, therefore, arose and passed into the parlor, say- 
ing, as she stood before the planter : 

“ Mr. Rumford, I am here.” 

“That is well, Zora,” he replied. And he walked back 
into the dining-room, rang the bell, unlocked the door, and 
said to old Cybele, who answered the summons : 

“Remove the service.” 

Cybele looked doubtful about obeying, until she had 
glanced at the table, and seen by the second used cup 
and saucer that Astrea had also breakfasted. Then, with 
a grunt, she set about clearing the table. 

Rumford returned to the front parlor, closed the door 
communicating with the dining-room, and locked it. Then 
tried the door leading into the passage, and found it fast. 

Astrea watched his proceedings, and saw that she was a 
close prisoner ; but she felt the little poniard in her bosom, 
and smiled to know that she was safe ! 

Rumford threw himself upon the sofa, and signed to 
Astrea to seat herself beside him. 


358 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

But Astrea drew herself up with dignity, and took no 
farther notice of the intimation. 

“ Sit down ! sit down here on the sofa by me, Zora ; for 
we are quite alone, and I wish to have some good under- 
standing with you ! Come ! why don’t you move ? Sit 
down ! sit down !” said Bumford, impatiently patting the 
end of the sofa upon which he invited her to seat herself. 

“A slave does not sit in the presence of her master !” 
said Astrea, with a fine irony. 

“ But when her master permits,” said Bumford. 

“ Her position is still too humble to embolden her to 
avail herself of such liberty,” replied Astrea, with a curling 
lip and flashing eye, that neutralized the humility of her 
words. 

“ Blame it, then 1 if her master commands !” cried Bum- 
ford, half laughing, half provoked at what seemed to him 
very amusing resistance on the part of a girl entirely in his 
power; “if her master commands, how then, Zora?” 

“ The servant, having no other option, would obey, I 
suppose,” answered Astrea, deliberately taking up one of 
the light straw chairs, carrying it to the extremity of the 
room farthest from Bumford, and seating hprself in it. 

“ Blast it 1 not there ! here, here, on the sofa beside me, 
where I can talk to you at ease. I have much to say to 
you, my girl, which it behooves you to hear,” said Bumford, 
again impatiently patting the spot where he wished Astrea 
to sit. 

“ I have excellent ears, sir, and can hear quite well at 
this — respectful — distance. ” 

“ Bosh ! come here, here ! I say here ! I command you !” 
cried the planter, impatiently repeating his gesture. 

“ I will not, sir,” firmly replied Astrea. 

“‘Not!’” exclaimed the planter, in a state of mind 
blending surprise, displeasure, and mirth. “ Did you say, 
1 Not V ” 

“I will not, sir!” repeated Astrea, emphatically. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


359 


“ By the demon, but that is good ! I like that ! But I 
see how it is ! This girl has been well educated and well 
brought up, and is vastly superior to her class ; she has 
never had a lover, and consequently, in her maiden pride, 
she would be wooed before she is won ! And deuse take 
me if I don’t like her the better for it. I am sick of your 
too willing ones, however tempting in other respects : 

* For the fruit that will fall without shaking 
Indeed is too mellow for me.’ 

So, this proud maiden beauty, slave as she is, will be wooed 
before she is won! Yes, and she is worth wooing and 
worth winning too ! And I shouldn’t wonder the least in 
the world if she insisted on being married as well as 
courted ! But of course she can’t come that game over 
me !” 

These thoughts passed rapidly through the mind of 
Bumford, as he sat contemplating with admiration the 
stately and beautiful form of Astrea, as she sat like a prin- 
cess in her distant chair. 

At last he spoke up : 

“Zora, nonsense, about this relation of master and slave. 
It is true, I purchased you, and paid a good round sum 
too ; as now that I know your worth, I would pay ten times 
as much to possess you. But, child, I did not buy a deli- 
cate and beautiful creature like you to make a servant of 
you, any more than I would buy a costly ermine robe to 
make a door-mat. No, my dear, I liked your looks from the 
very first, and I purchased you to make you the companion 
and solace of my declining years ; the pet and darling of 
my affections ; the light and life of my domestic hearth ; in 
one word, my dear Zora, I purchased you, not for a servile 
slave, but for a beloved companion, who should fill, in my 
heart and home, the place of wife and children ; who should 
rule my house and servants ; share my pleasures ; command 
my purse ; nurse me tenderly in sickness ; close my eyes in 


360 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


death ; and finally inherit my fortune ! This, my dear girl, 
is the position I offer you !” 

“And you dare to speak these words to me ! to me, a pure 
woman and a wedded wife 1 ” gasped Astrea, nearly speech- 
less with indignation. 

“ Stuff, girl ! that’s your monomania again — the one sub- 
ject upon which 3^011 are cracked ! But it is the full of the 
moon, or but little past it, and I hope, with the wane, the 
hallucination will pass away. In the meantime, pray do 
not mention it to me again, my dear girl. And, Zora, let 
me tell you that the tone 3 :r ou adopt toward me is scarcely 
proper or grateful. And you have something to be grateful 
for.” 

“ Oh, have I, indeed !” exclaimed Astrea, bitterly. 

“Yes, you have, you spoiled and inexperienced child ! 
Suppose I had not purchased you ? You would have been 
taken to New Orleans, and exposed for sale on the auction 
block. Some graceless scamp would have bought you, and 
after loving 3^011 for a little while, would have grown tired 
of you, and sold you to some one else ; or he would have 
married a wife, and brought her home to queen it over you, 
and break your heart ; or, 3^ou would have been bought by 
some married man, to wait upon his wife, whom your beauty 
would have driven mad with jealousy — and so, between the 
favor of your master and the hatred of your mistress, your 
life would have been a purgatory. Such, or some such fate 
would have been yours, Zora, had I not purchased you. 
Now, see how much happier your position is! Here you 
have no jealous mistress to oppress you ; no rival to distress 
you ; here 3 r ou need fear no female despotism, and no male 
inconstancy ; here you are the sole mistress of the house — 
the sole darling of the old man, in whom you need never 
fear change — for men of my age do not change, like younger 
ones, my girl. They get used to a pretty, affectionate girl, 
and the longer they know her, the better they love her ; and 
the length of years they live together does but cement the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 361 

attachment. Come now, my dear girl, think over what I 
have said — remember it is this — that yon shall be the only 
love of my heart, my wife in every thing but the name, and 
that name I could not in any case offer any girl of your 
color, because, however worthy of it she might be, the laws 
of the State would not sanction it. Come, my child — think 
of what I offer you ! I will not further distress you this 
morning ; but this evening I may perhaps see you again. ” 

And so saying, the planter arose to leave the parlor. 

“Stay!” said Astrea, sternly. 

Half laughing at the peremptory tone taken by his slave, 
Rumford paused, saying : 

“As long as you like, my dear. I had supposed my pres- 
ence to be unwelcome. I am glad to find it otherwise !” And 
he threw himself into a chair. 

“ You have spoken words to me, which it was dishonor 
to my ears to hear, and deeper dishonor to your lips to 
utter. You are an old man — old in years, and older still 
in a constitution ruined by vice ” 

“ Zora !” interrupted the planter, sternly. 

“ Yes, sir — I will speak to you plainly. From me you 
shall hear the truth, if you never heard it before. Let 
others flatter and deceive you to your soul’s eternal per- 
dition, if they will. Heaven knows that I will not. I 
repeat, that you are an old man — older still by vice than by 
years ! Between you and the grave there can be but a little 
while — a few years at most — perhaps but a few months, a 
few weeks, or a few days. Life at your age, spent as you 
spend it, is always short and very precarious ” 

“ So much the better for you, my dear, if you will but 
stop preaching, and consent to comfort what is left of it to 
me!” said Rumford, with gay defiance. 

“ Be silent on that insulting subject ! I abhor you, old 
man — there is nothing on earth so loathsome and so 
appalling to my soul as vicious old age! And yet it is even 
more in pity than in disgust that I warn you — look to your- 


362 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


self! You are old, infirm, feeble ! You are sensual, glut- 
tonous, and drunken ! You are despotic, passionate, 
excitable ! At any moment these combined influences 
may occasion your sudden death. I know it ! And then ? 
what then ? You would be hurried without a moment for 
repentance, and with all your lifetime’s load of sin upon 
your soul, into the awful presence of your Judge ! Think 
of that, old man, and tremble.” 

“ Well, you see I don't tremble, though you force me to 
think of disagreeable subjects — you witch!” said Rumford, 
with gay indifference. 

“ Mr. Rumford, do you believe in God, and in a future 
state of rewards and punishments?” 

“ Of course I believe in God ; but as to the future state 
of rewards and punishments, that is all bosh !” 

“ Then I can talk no longer with you, sir. If you reject 
the truths of the Christian revelation, I can have no further 
hold upon your conscience. I can only pray that the Lord, 
to whom all things are possible, may enlighten your soul.” 

“ Girl ! Zora ! you talk to me as if you thought I was the 
greatest sinner alive ! I am not. I am known all over the 
country for a good fellow. To prove it to you, I sit here 
and listen to a lot of abuse from my own slave, that no 
other man alive would take even from his wife ! I think 
that proves I am not a bad fellow. And what the dense ! — 
I have never robbed or murdered any body — never cheated, 
or lied to, or wronged any one in my life. Of what, there- 
fore, am I accused ?” 

“ Lulu,” said Astrea, in a low, significant voice. 

For a moment the planter started and changed color. 
Then recovering himself, with a light laugh, he said : 

“ I never wronged Lulu. I bought her as I bought you. 
I never compelled her inclinations. She loved me willingly ; 
and I treated her well, and gave her lots of fine clothes and 
jewelry, and took her to the Springs every summer, where 
she passed for my ward, and danced at all the balls with 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 363 

the best ladies in the land. And so I will take you, if you 
will be good and reasonable.” 

“ But she died ! And how did she die ?” 

“ Took a fit of religious fanaticism all of a sudden at a 
camp meeting, and wanted to separate herself from me. 
Well, if she had been only my companion she might have 
done it, but being a slave, she could not come that game 
over the old fellow. And so the fool took her position so 
to heart, that she pined away and died. That was not my 
fault, you know.” 

“Not your fault, oh miserable and blinded man ! I tell 
you, that when you shall meet that poor lost girl at the 
dread judgment seat of your offended Maker, you will 
find that the sins you have compelled her to commit will be 
lifted from her soul and thrown upon yours, and weigh it 
down to eternal perdition ! And now I warn you, old man. 
Slave as you believe me to be, I do not fear you ! I can 
neither be persuaded, tempted, nor compelled to dishonor 
as Lulu was ! Believe me, no woman, pure in thought, 
word, and deed, ever can. I hold my fate and your sin the 
hollow of my hand ! I know and feel it with a deep con- 
viction. Therefore — and this is why I called you back — ■ 
do not dare to pass the threshold of my room to-night ! 
Slave as you think me, my chamber is my sanctuary, and 
shall be held most sacred from the intrusion of any man, 
even of my so-called master ! Therefore, Mr. Bumford, if 
you even make the attempt to enter my chamber, this night 
or any night, it will be at your own utmost peril ! You 
are warned !” 

“ Whe-ew!” said the planter, pursing up his lips, “what 
a splendid actress you would have made ! But I like you 
all the better for it, Zora ! I like you all the better for it, 
my girl ! And I’m blamed if you were white, if I wouldn’t 
marry you to-morrow ! But, as it is, it is no go, you know. 
As to your defying me to come into your room, I like that, 
too ! That is piquant ! That is sauce to the goose ! I shall 


364 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

come all the surer for that defiance, my girl ! Do you 
think I am afraid of your little claws and teeth, you pretty 
little kitten ? No ! I have served through the Mexican war, 
and faced a charge of bayonets, and do you think a 
woman’s nails or tongue, either, can turn me back? Be- 
sides, my dear, you will preach from a very different text 
a month hence.” And so saying, Rumford unlocked the 
door, lighted his pipe, and strolled out upon the lawn. 

He had scarcely gone out of sight when the door of a 
closet beside the chimney opened, and Yenus appeared, 
with a scared visage. 

“ Why, Yenus ! is that you?” exclaimed Astrea, in as- 
tonishment. 

“ Yes, honey, what’s leff of me by de smotheration ! De 
Lor’ ! dere aint a singly breaf of air in dat dere cupboard 
when de door am shut,” replied the woman, gasping. 

“ But — how came you in that closet?” 

“ Debil, I suppose, honey ! Nuffin ’tall but de debil ! 
Fact is, I was in de room a-dustin’ of de furniture while 
ole marse was eatin’ of his breakfas’, an’ so I heerd him or- 
der you to come in here an’ talk wid him when breakfas’ 
was over ; an’ so de debil tempt me to slip in dis yere closet 
an’ listen, an’ see as dere was fair play ! an’ Lor’ knows I 
was punish enough for it, too ! It was hot as an oven, an’ 
not a breaf of fresh air, an’ if I had staid dere one minute 
longer, I done dead with sufferation ! ’Twas de debil, 
chile ! nuffin but de debil !” 

“No, indeed, Yenus! I do not think it was the devil, 
but rather some good angel that inspired you to go into 
that closet, and watch to see that there was fair play, as 
you call it. I hope you heard and saw every thing that 
passed. 

“ Ebery singly thing, honey ! ’deed did I !” 

"Iam very glad you did ! I am glad to know that I was 
not now, and never have been, alone in a closed room with 
that desperate man ! I^ut you said that you hid yourself 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


365 


there to see that there was fair play. And I believe that 
you were inspired to become my witness. Buff tell me, Ve- 
nus, if there had not been fair play, what do you think you 
should have done to help me ?” 

“ Hi, chile J how I know what de debil might o’ tempted 
of me to do ? Take up de poker an’ knock ole marse down 
for dead, maybe, an’ den get mysef’ hungged up by de neck 
for it ! Somefin like dat, honey, I knows, ’cause you see de 
debil was busy wid me !” 

“ I hope not, Venus ; for, as I said before, it was not Satan 
that w r as with you, but some good spirit. And now, Venus, 
since you heard every thing that passed, you heard of the 
threatened visit to-night ?” 

“Yes, honey, I heerd it all good, ’deed did I! — ole 
scamp !” 

“ Well, Venus, there is one great favor I shall ask of you 1” 

“ What dat, honey ?” 

“ To stay in my room with me to-night.” 

“ Lor’, chile, I done ’ceive my orders contrarywise to dat ! 
Ole marse he say to me dis mornin’, he say, ‘Wenus, wo- 
man, you can go back to your loft to-night ; Zora is well 
enough to ’spense of your services.’ So dere, you see, 
honey !” v 

“Ah ! Venus, I expected something like that ! but do, my 
dear girl, try to elude their vigilance, and conceal yourself 
in my chamber to-night ! You can hide under the bed, or 
in the wardrobe, or in one of the closets. Will you do this 
for me ?” 

“ Hi, chile, what good I gwine do you by ’sposing my 
own life to ’struction ?” ^ 

“ The same good that you have done me by hiding your- 
self in that cupboard to witness the interview between my- 
self and Mr. Rumford.” 

“An’ what dat, honey ? For ’fore my ’Vine Marser in 
hebbin, I doesn’t know !” 

“ It w T as this, Venus ! Your presence in that closet will 


366 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


prevent any one from being able to say with truth that I 
was alone for one single moment, in a closed room, with 
that man ! Think of that, Venus ! It was for that you 
were led to conceal yourself in this room.” 

Well, Lor’, I do really ’spose it was, else how I do it ?” 

“And now, my good woman, I would have you again 
perform a similar service for me ! Conceal yourself in my 
room to-night, so that I may be able still to prove that I 
never was alone for one moment, in a closed room, with 
Rumford !” 

“ But, hi, honey, who gwine ask you to ’fend an’ prove 
any thing ’bout it?” 

“ Venus, I have told you before that I am a wife ! It is 
of vital importance to me that my honor should be beyond 
suspicion. This night may see the last of my life. But 
whether I live or die, Venus, I want you for a witness that 
I lived or died a pure woman ! Now do you understand 
me ?” 

“ Yes, honey ; an’ I don’t know how it is ; I is sartain 
sure I is a great coward, but I feels as dough I was bounden 
to ’bey you ! I s’pose it is de good spirit as you spoke of.” 

“ That is it, Venus ! There are angels all about us, to 
inspire and aid us, if we are good and true !” 

“An’ now, honey, what you want me to do in case ole 
marse should come in an’ be obstropolous ? Take de poker 
an’ knock him down for dead ?” 

“ No, Venus, I do not even wish you to come out from 
your hiding-place, or to run any personal risk whatever ! I 
only wish you to remain on the watch to see all that' passes, 
and report of me, living or dead !” 

“ Yes, honey ; but same time if old marse do misbehave 
hisself, an’ I sees him, an’ de debil do get into me, which 
he is apt to do, I can’t be no ways ’sponsible for what I 
shall do ! Knock ole marse brains out wid de poker, ma}d)e, 
an’ den get hang up by de neck till I’m dead ! An’ dere’s 
an end o’ Wenus I” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


867 


“ There is no danger, my dear Venus. You will be on a 
holy duty and will be protected from all temptation of the 
Evil One. And now, my dear woman, you had better not 
remain too long in my company, lest your presence should 
be observed, and it should excite suspicion.” 

“ Eat berry true ! ’Sides which I got to do ole marse’s 
room, blame him !” said Venus, as she immediately left the 
parlor to perform this duty. 


CHAPTER XLV. 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE FEAST. 

Bring flowers, young flowors, for the festal board, 

To wreathe the cup ere the wine is poured ; 

Bring flowers, they are springing in wood and vale ; 

Their breath floats out on the southern gale ; 

And the touch of the sunbeam hath waked the rose, 

To deck the wall where the bright wine flows ! — Felicia, JTemans 

Astrea had no duties to perform. She had not even the 
woman’s little solace, a work-box ! The reader knows that 
all her personal effects had been left behind when she was 
abducted from the isle. And since that, she had had no 
opportunity, even had she possessed the desire, to procure 
working materials. There were books lying about on the 
parlor tables ; but they were of that showy sort whose chief 
attraction lies in their gaudy bindings. Astrea, therefore, 
had no means of occupying herself, even had her mind not 
been so deeply pre-occupied by the terrors of her impending 
fate. 

She wandered restlessly about the room. She went to 
the front windows and looked out. They commanded a 
sunny southern prospect of green savannas interspersed 
with groves of trees, and bounded on the distant horizon 


368 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

by the cypress swamp. It was the same country she had 
passed in her flight. 

Weary of this, she left the parlor and went into her own 
room, which she found already made tidy by the nimble fin- 
gers of Yenus. She had no means of locking herself in, for 
the keys had all been withdrawn from the locks. She sat 
down beside one of the back windows and looked out. 
There was nothing to be seen from it but the kitchen build- 
ings, the garden, the bleaching ground, and the poultry 
yard. A great smoke was ascending from the kitchen 
chimney, as if preparations for dinner were already going 
on. Through the open door she saw old Cybele moving 
busily about among pots and pans. In the kitchen garden 
old Saturn was going around with a basket, gathering veg- 
etables. In the poultry yard she saw Yenus in a very com- 
mon act of domestic treachery and slaughter — namely, with 
a little basket of corn in her hands, calling, “ Chicky ! 
chicky ! chicky ! chicky !” and while the trustful creatures 
flew around her and even alighted on her shoulders, seizing 
such as she preferred for the pot and incontinently wringing 
their necks. Astrea turned from this sickening sight to 
the more agreeable prospect of the bleaching green, where 
a half a dozen negro girls in bright turbans were engaged 
in spreading out newly washed linen. 

Listlessly enough, Astrea watched these various domestic 
offices for a while, and then, in the restlessness of her spirit, 
she left the room and walked out of the front door upon the 
front lawn. 

The moment she appeared, Rumford, who was walking up 
and down smoking, took the pipe from his mouth, and gave 
a peculiar whistle that brought his bloodhounds bounding 
to his side. 

He took them and led them straight up to Astrea, making 
them snuff her clothing, and then saying : 

“ Good boys ! pretty pups ! watch her ! watch her /” 

The dogs looked up intelligently and wagged their tails. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


869 


“ And now, Zora,” said Rumford, turning to his victim, 
“ if you should be meditating another mad flight, let me tell 
you that it will be utterly impossible for you to accomplish 
your design. These dogs will not permit you to leave the 
premises. I would rather trust your safe-keeping to them, 
than to an army of jailers. They are incorruptible guardians, 
and not to be bribed, coaxed, or frightened from their trust ! 
So look out for yourself, my girl, for if you so much as at- 
tempt to escape, they will be at your throat ! And if I 
should not happen to be at hand to call them off, they may 
do you a serious mischief! So take care how you even 
walk upon the lawn. When you are tamed, my wild deer, 
and I can place confidence in you, then I will teach the 
dogs a different lesson and give you a larger liberty.” 

11 1 have no intention to escape in the way you think, Mr. 
Rumford ! My fate is in the hands of God, who will deliver 
me from the spoiler!” said Astrea with grave dignity, as 
she retreated into the house. 

She returned to her own room and sat down again at the 
window. Every thing in the background was going on as 
before ; the kitchen chimney still smoking furiously ; old 
Cybele moving about among her pots and pans ; Saturn 
delving in the garden; the laundry maids busy on the 
bleaching green, and Venus coming out of the poultry yard 
wflth a basket full of new laid eggs in one hand and a bunch 
of killed chickens in the other. These she carried to the 
kitchen door, and having given them into the hands of old 
Cybele, she turned about and went into the garden, where 
she began gathering loads of flowers. Having filled her 
large apron as full as it could hold, she returned and en- 
tered the house by the back door. She paused at the door 
of Astrea’s chamber, and looking in, said : 

“ What you think, honey ?” 

11 What?” demanded Astrea. 

11 Ole marse gwine hab a roun’ dozen ob gemmen to dine 
long o’ him to-day ! a roun’ dozen ! An* he nebber tell 
23 


370 


THE FOETUNE SEEKEE. 


nobody nuffin ’bout it ’till arter breakfas’ dis mornin’, an’ 
’deed arter he come out from talkin’ to you ! Ole Aunt 
Cybele is mos’ druv to her wits ends ! So much to do an’ 
so little time to do it in ! But dat is jes’ ole marse ! he 
neber takes a ’sideration on to nobody’s feelin’s ’cept his t 
own ! An’ ole Aunt Cybele she say how he’s eberlastin’ a 
gwine on jes so ! alius a dinin’ out or havin’ gemmen to 
dine ’long o’ him ! an’ a eatin’, an’ a drinkin’, an’ a stuffin’, 
an’ a boozin’ all de blessed night ! But I know what gwine 
be de end ob it all ! He get an appleplexy fit ! an’ dat will 
be de end o’ he! I see it all right afore me !” 

“What are you going to do with all those roses, Venus ? 
They are very sweet,” said Astrea, who dearly loved 
flowers. 

“ Hi, honey, ornamentate de dinin’-room an’ parlor wid 
’em — which I must go an’ do it immediate, ’cause arter I 
done dat, I got de china an’ cut glass an’ silver to see to, _ 
an’ de table to set ! De lors ! hurryin’ a body up so, till 
dey don’t know whedder dey stan’s on dere heads or dere 
heels !” said Venus, gathering up the corners of her flower- 
laden apron and preparing to go. 

“ Let me help you, Venus. It will be a relief to me to 
do something to while away this tedious day, and I used 
to take pleasure in arranging flowers. I will arrange them 
all for you, if you please, and then you can go at something 
else,” said Astrea, kindly. 

“ Well, honey, if you like for to do it, sure I’m bery 
thankful to you ; an’ ’haps it may ’muse your mind, too,” 
replied Venus, gratefully. 

Astrea immediately arose and accompanied Venus to the 
dining-room, where the load of flowers was emptied out 
upon the table, and where a pair of scissors, a pitcher of 
water, and a dozen or so of vases were placed. 

Astrea was soon congenially engaged in clipping and 
dressing the flowers, and filling the vases. And in arrang- 
ing harmoniously tea-roses, heliotropes, cape-jasmines, gera- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


371 


niums, and other beautiful and fragrant flowers, Astrea 
almost forgot her miseries. Two hours passed in this way, 
and when Astrea had placed the floral vases upon the 
chimney-pieces, and the tables of the dining-room and 
parlor, poor, simple Venus was lost in admiration, which 
she vented as follows : 

“Well, chile! I has heerd tell ob de flower angels, an’ 
you mus’ be one o’ dem!” 

Astrea was betrayed into a smile at this enthusiastic 
compliment. 

“And now, Venus, as I find strength in being employed, 
I will assist you in arranging the dinner-table,” she said. 

“ Which I accepts your help, grateful, honey, ’count o’ 
your ex’lent taste ! For dough I hates ole marse worse 
dan I do rank p’ison, still I wants to hab ebery ting done 
in a s’perior style, for de credit o’ us colored people long 
o’ de strange gem’n.” 

Astrea, with a cheerfulness that surprised herself, went 
to work, and soon the dinner table was splendidly set forth, 
with its Sevres china service, its Bohemian glass tumblers, 
goblets, and decanters, and its silver-gilt cutlery and spoons. 
A large and tasteful bouquet of fragrant flowers occupied 
the centre of the board. 

The admiration of Venus arose to ecstasy. She fairly 
clapped her hands and crowed, saying : 

“ Well, I neber see nuffin more eleganter dan dat, in all 
my born days, neber ! An’ it’s all in de way you’ve ’range 
it, honey! Won’t ole marse be ’stonish? dat’s all!” 

“ Oh, Venus, don’t name that evil man to me, when I 
would so gladly forget his existence,” said Astrea, wildly. 

“Well, no more I won’t, honey ! Lors knows, I aint no 
more fond o’ talkin’ of him, nor you are of hearin’ of him, 
so nuif said.” 

“ And now, Venus, I have done all I can for the present. 
When the dinner is ready to be served, I will come and 
show you how to arrange the first course properly. After 


372 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


that yon know I cannot make my appearance, as the gentle- 
men will be in the dining-room. I hope that Mr. Rumford 
will not expect my attendance, for if he does, I certainly 
shall not come 1” 

“ Oh, Lor’, honey, yon needn’t be one bit feared. I 
tonght o’ dat myself, an’ so I ax ole Aunt Cybele, an’ she 
tell me how ole marse neber let any of de women folks wait 
on de table when he has gem’en to dinner ; but alius makes 
Sam wait. An’ specially Aunt Cybele say he would no 
more let you come in de sight o’ de gem’en dan he would 
show a precious treasure to a gang of thieves. So you 
needn’t be at all feared for yourself, chile ; you’s all right 
dere !” said Venus, confidently. 

“Thank heaven for that,” said Astrea ; “I shall have 
some precious hours of privacy ! But oh, Venus, to-night ! 
to-night ! you will not fail me ?” 

“ Hi’, chile, how I gwine fail you ? I nebber fail any 
body in all my life, neber ! an’ taint likely as I’ll begin wid 
you! ’Sides which, honey, you jes keep a stiff upper-lip ! 
Dis dinner-party make it all de better for you ! I said so, 
soon as I heerd tell of it. I say to myself — ‘ Thank de 
Lord ! in de ’fusion I can slip away, an’ hide myself in de 
chile’s room, an’ nobody ’quire for me ! An’ den ag’in ole 
marse will be drinkin’ and boozin’ till mornin’ long o’ de 
gem’en, an’ dey’ll be tipsy togeder, an’ so ole marse he’ll 
forget all ’bout de chile ! Dere, now, don’t you see de 
’vantage, honey ?” 

“ I think you may be right, Venus ; I hope to heaven 
you may be ! One day more of respite would be a great 
blessing to me.” 

“ Yes, honey, so it would ! An’ now you go right straight 
in your own room, an’ sit down an’ rest yourself while I 
goes an’ get you something to eat. Lors knows, old Aunt 
Cybele, nor me neider, don’t mean to let you starve, be- 
cause ole marse gwine to hab a high-jim-be-lung dinner 
party, an’ I tell him so good /” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


373 


Astrea went to her own room, where Venus soon brought 
her a delicate luncheon. 

The afternoon wore away. 




CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE MIDNIGHT REVELLERS. 

“Ring, joyous chords— ring forth again! 

A swifter still, and a wilder strain ! 

But thou , though a reckless mien he thine, 

And thy cup be crowned with the foaming wine, 

By the fitful bursts of thy laughter loud, 

By thine eye’s quick flash through its troubled cloud, 

I know thee ! — it is but the wakeful fear 
Of a haunted bosom, that brings thee here ! 

I know thee ! thou fearest the solemn night ! 

With her piercing stars and her deep wind’s might ! 

There’s a tone in her voice that thou fain wouldst shun, 

For it asks what the secret soul hath done ! 

And thou ! — there’s a weight on thine I — away ! 

Back to thy room and pray I” 

About six o’clock in the evening the guests of Rumford 
began to arrive. 

At seven dinner was placed upon the table. 

Astrea went, as she had promised, to assist Venus in ar- 
ranging the first course, and then she retired for the eve- 
ning to her own chamber, where Venus took care to bring 
her tea in due season. 

“An’ now, honey, you an’ me can sit down an’ be corn- 
form able togeder the res’ o’ de ebenin’. Ole Aunt Cybele, 
she don’t know nuffin ’tall ’bout me bein’ ordered to go back 
to de lof’ to-night, so she won’t ax arter me. An’ ole marse 
too busy ; he an’ de oder beasts just gone to dere feed,” 
said Venus, as, after having taken away the tea service, she 
dragged in her mattress, and began to spread it out under- 
neath Astrea’s bedstead. 

“ Poor Venus, you’ll be half smothered under there,’* said 
Astrea. 


874 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Not me, honey ! Dere’s a good, cool draught ; ’sides 
which, long as you gwine to keep de candle burnin, it will 
be shady under dere, an’ keep off de ’squitoes, which dem 
little debbils is de torment o’ my life, an’ makes me ’mit 
more sin in cussin’ an swearin’ to myself at night dan any 
thing else in dis worl’.” 

“Well, my good woman, suit yourself! At least, you 
will be out of sight there.” 

“ Honey,” said Yenus, coming out from under the bed, 
and drawing mysteriously near to Astrea, “ honey, what 
you think ?•” 

“ I don’t know ! What is it ?” 

“Dere’s thirteen sinners set down to dat dinner table.” 

“ Well, you told me there was a round dozen invited. 
Of course, Mr. Ilumford makes the thirteenth.” 

“ Yes ; but, chile, take a ’sideration on to it ! thirteen sin- 
ners set down to one dinner table !” 

“ Well, what of that ? That is not a very large dinner 
party.” 

“ But thirteen , honey ; ’sider dat !” 

“Well, I do; what of it?” 

“ Lors, chile, how your edication has been neglected in 
some things, to be sure ! Now, I dessay as you’ve larned 
a heap o’ music, an’ paintin’, an’ dancin’, an’ singin’, an’ 
dat ! but you has nebber larned what ’cerns you more to 
know.” 

“ I certainly do not know what you mean, Yenus.” 

“ De lors, chile, don’t you know as when thirteen sinners 
sits down to one table, one of the sinners is sartain sure to 
go to de debil afore thirteen days is over dere heads?” said 
Yenus, in a low, mysterious whisper. 

“No, I never knew that. It is only a superstition, Ye- 
nus,” replied Astrea. 

“ Yes, honey, I dessay it’s a superstriction ; but it’s truth t 
for all dat ! I nebber knew it to fail. No more did Aunt 
Cybele, or TJncle Saturn, ole as dey bofe is — which dey said 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


375 


it demselves dis blessed ebenin’. An’ now you look out, 
honey ! ’fore a fortnight is over our heads, an’ dat is four- 
teen days, we all hears of a death 1 An’ it gwine to be one 
o’ dem dere gem’en as is a sittin’ boozin’ at dat dere table ! 
Maybe ole marse, for aught I know ; an ’deed if it was, 
’taint Wenus as would go ravin’ ’stracted crazy wid grief 
for his loss ; I tell yon dat good.” 

“ They are very noisy,” said Astrea, as the sound of their 
revelry met her ear. 

“ Lors, chile, dat ain’t nuffin’ ’tall. Not as I knows any 
thing about it ; but ole Aunt Cybele say, wait till de cloth 
is drawn an’ de wine put on de table, will you ? Den you 
think ole Nick an’ all his imps done broke loose ! Least- 
ways, so ole Aunt Cybele say, an’ she ought to know. 
Which it’s my belief as dat is de reason why ole marse 
nebber married, ’cause, you see, jie knew bery well how no 
wife would eber put up long of such high-jim-be-lung goings 
on in de house ! Listen to dat now!” said Yenus, indig- 
nantly, as the sound of wild revelry rolled in upon their 
ears. 

Astrea felt shocked and outraged. 

As the evening passed on, the orgies grew higher and 
more furious. From loud talking and boisterous laughter, 
they soon reached improper jests, and anecdotes, and bac- 
chanalian songs of a character qutie unfit for woman’s ears. 

“ Now, jes listen to dat dere chorus, honey ! Aint dat 
’nough to make any decent body go run dere head right 
into de ashes ?” said Yenus. 

“I am not listening, Yenus, as I prefer not to hear such 
ribaldry,” replied Astrea, in a tone of rebuke that silenced 
Yenus for the time. 

It drew near midnight and still the orgies gave no inti- 
mation of subsiding. 

« I gwine try to fasten up dis yere room ; ’deed is I ; 
’cause I done got sleepy, an’ dere’s no tollin’ where dem 
dere debbils wander to when dey get blind drunk ; dey 


376 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


won’t know dis room door from de front door or de back 
door, an’ dey’ll be as like to stumble into here as any other 
place,” said Yenus, as she looked about for some means of 
securing the room against intrusion. But she had no 
better success than Astrea had upon a previous occasion. 

“ Well ! I do think how dis is a downright barbarious 
’trivance of ole Nick hisself! Ebery key took out’n de 
locks, an’ no bolt on de doors, an’ all de doors swingin’ out- 
ward, so you can’t even pile up any thing agin ’em to keep 
’em fast !” exclaimed Yenus, in a rage. 

“My good woman, if you are tired just close the doors 
and go to sleep. I shall sit in this chair and watch through 
the night. I could not in any case trust myself to sleep 
through this night,” said Astrea, kindly. 

“ Well, honey, it do seem funnelly selfish in me for to go 
to sleep an’ leave you a sittin’ up by yourself ; leastways 
it would seem so if I could help of it, which I couldn’t to 
save my life ! An’ when de sleep do come on me I can no 
more keep my eyes open dan nuffin at all ; an’ I couldn’t 
if de house was a-fire,” said Yenus, opening her wide mouth 
in an awful yawn that exhibited a deep red chasm terrible 
to contemplate. 

“ It is a very pardonable weakness, Yenus; pray yield to 
it at once,” said Astrea, gently. 

“ ’Deed I gwine to, honey 1” answered the woman, kneel- 
ing down to say her short evening prayer. After which 
she yawned again fearfully, crept under the bed to her 
mattress and was soon fast asleep. Waking up, however, 
at the rolling in of an unusually uproarious chorus, she 
started, put her head out from under the bed, and said : 

“ De lors, if I didn’t think robbers had broke into de 
house ! An’ it aint nuffin ’tall but dem rip’rates a-roarin’ 
of dere songs ! Well ! I try it once more ! An’, honey, 
mind, if you is ’sturbed in de night, or frightened or any 
thing, an’ I is a-sleep, jest you overturn a chair or somethin’ 
an’ wake me up, ’cause I sha’n’t sleep so bery sound no 
ways. Well, good-night, honey !” 


( 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 377 

And so saying, with another tremendous yawn, the 
woman once more drew in her head, tumbled down upon 
her mattress, and resigned herself to a sleep too profound 
to be again disturbed by the most noisy outbreaks of the 
dining-room orgies. 


CHAPTER XL VII. 


THE DESTROYER. 

Fixed was her look and stern her air ; 

Back from her shoulders streamed her hair ; 
The locks that wont her brows to shade, 
Stared up erectly from her head : 

Her figure seemed to rise more high ; 

Her voice despair’s wild energy 
Had given a tone of prophecy. — Scott. 


Meantime Astrea sat alone in her chair, counting the 
weary hours of that fearful night as they passed. Wilder 
and wilder grew the revels in the dining-room. The hall 
clock had struck two before the noise began to subside. 

Soon after that she heard the guests rise from the table 
and prepare to depart. She heard the order given for the 
gentlemens’ grooms, who were following, in the kitchen, 
the example set by their masters in the dining-room, to 
bring around the horses. And Astrea wondered how, be- 
tween inebriated masters and tipsy servants the members 
of that dinner party would ever reach their homes without 
broken necks. Though experience proves that, contrary to 
all reasonable probability, they invariably do so. 

She heard the tramping of the horses as they were 
brought around to the hall door ; and the disorderly exit 
of the gentlemen, as with loud renewal of engagements to 
similar scenes of excess, and with uproarious adieus, they 
separated and mounted and rode away — some singly, and 


378 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


some in parties of two or more, as their roads homeward 
lay. 

When the last guests had departed, she heard Rumford 
and his man Sam putting out the lights and fastening up 
the house. Lastly she heard the master dismiss the man 
through the back door, lock it, and enter his own. She 
heard him moving about for a little while, and then all was 
silent. 

The house that had so lately been the scene of such 
high revelry, was now as still as a vault. 

Astrea trembled more at the stillness than she had at the 
orgies. 

The visitors, wild as they were, had still been felt as a 
temporary protection. 

Now she was defenceless, but for the possession of the 
little poniard. 

Her room was in semi-darkness, being lighted only by 
the slender bedroom candle. Like a child, she felt more 
afraid in the dark. So she softly arose and lighted two 
large wax candles, that stood in silver candle-sticks upon 
the dressing-table, hitherto more for ostentation than ser- 
vice. 

The room was now in a blaze of light, and Astrea, re- 
assured, softly wheeled her easy chair around until it faced 
Rumford ’s room, sat herself down in it, unsheathed her 
little dagger, and fixed her eyes upon the communicating 
door with the vigilance of a cat watching a rat hole. She 
was resolved to die the instant Rumford crossed that 
threshold, should he indeed venture to intrude upon her 
privacy. But danger seldom approaches us from the 
guarded point. It comes, when it comes at all, from some 
rmsuspected quarter. 

Thus, while our heroine sat still with the dagger grasped 
in her hand, and her eyes fixed upon the door, she felt a 
heavy hand fall upon her shoulder, and a rough voice 
exclaim : 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 379 

“ What, Zora ! actually sitting up and waiting for me, 
my love ! That was very kind !” 

It was the hand and the voice of Rumford, who had en- 
tered by the door leading into the passage, and stolen upon 
her from behind. 

With a ringing shriek, Astrea sprang to her feqt, in her 
haste overturning her chair, that fell with a loud crash to 
the floor. 

The shriek of Astrea, and the fall of the chair, roused up 
Yenus, who rolled herself about until she got her head 
under the valance of the foot of the bedstead, from which, 
had any one stooped low enough to observe, they might 
have seen her black face, and shining eyes, looking out like 
a wild beast from its lair. 

Astrea had sprang several yards from Rumford, where 
she stood like a lioness at bay — her form drawn up to its 
haughtiest height, her eyes blazing defiance, her hand 
grasping the dagger. 

Rumford stood gazing upon her. His face was bloated, 
his eyes bloodshot, his frame tremulous. He was in that 
particular stage of intoxication, where a man is still con- 
scious of his acts, though careless of their consequences — 
in a word, when he is both rational and reckless. He stood 
staring with stupid admiration upon the beautiful form of 
Astrea. This new, fierce aspect of her beauty, seemed to 
add fuel to the fire of his passion. 

“ Splendid creature ! you are worth a million of money ! 
and I’ll marry you to-morrow, in spite of all the laws in the 
land, if that is the price of your precious love!” he ex- 
claimed, and opening his sirms he advanced toward her. 

“Stop!” cried Astrea, in a high and ringingtone of com- 
mand, that arrested him where he stood. 

“ Come no nearer, on your life and soul ! But look at me 
and listen to me from where you now stand ! You see this 
dagger, where I have placed its point against my own throat, 
just over the carotid artery ; my hand is nerved to drive Y 


380 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


to its hilt ! Come, then, but one step nearer, and I drop 
dead, slain by my own act !” 

Rumford stared at her, appalled, and yet admiringly. He 
felt well assured that she uttered no vain threat. He saw 
in that proudly erect form, on that imperious brow, firm 
lips, and flashing eyes, a resolution impossible to defy. 

His first impulse was to throw himself upon her, disarm 
her, and have her at his mercy. But he saw that she still 
watched him too closely ; that his first step toward such an 
act must be instantly fatal to her. He could therefore only 
seek to disarm her vigilance. So, instead of advancing 
toward her, he retreated, and began to walk slowly up and 
down the room as he answered : 

“ Nonsense, Zora ! what is the use of your flying out in 
that ferocious manner ? Have I done you any wrong? Have 
I offered you any violence ?” 

“You have invaded the sanctity of my private apart- 
ment, sir ! and I order you to leave it at once 1” commanded 
Astrea. 

“ Stuff, girl ! that is not the way in which you should 
speak to your master, and I am your master, though quite 
willing to become your slave. I entered your room because 
I had a right to do so ; and for the kindly purpose of having 
some friendly conversation with you.” 

“ At three o’clock in the morning, sir !” exclaimed Astrea, 
with angry scorn. 

“ Why not ; I was up and dressed, and so were you ! I 
saw that through the keyhole of that communicating door. 
Deuse take it, how you watched that door, Zora ! One 
would have thought you expected me !” 

“ And you looked in upon my privacy through a keyhole ! 
Oh, base, though not baser than all your other conduct ! 
And so that was the reason you entered by the passage door 
and stole upon me from behind !” 

“ Exactly, my girl, and to give you a little pleasant sur- 
prise !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 381 

“ Then leave my room this instant, sir ! Every moment 
that you remain in it is an additional insult ! Why do you 
not obey me ?” 

“ Because it is not the master’s place to obey the slave, 
my girl.” 

“ I am no slave ! I have told you who and what I am, 
and I need not repeat the story here ! You disbelieve, or 
you affect to disbelieve my statement. But that shall not 
make me forget or abandon my position for one moment ! 
Once more I command you to leave me !” 

“ Bosh, Zora ! Your story, as you call it, is all moon- 
struck madness ! As to leaving you, I shall do it when I 
please. I shall not harm you by walking about here while 
I talk to you for a few moments, although you have put 
yourself into such a belligerent attitude toward me. And 
why, indeed, should you have done so ? Hang it, girl, do 
you think I am a beast, or a devil — or a mixture of the 
two — to offer any rudeness to a woman, even though she 
were my own ? No, Zora, do not be afraid of me, girl. I 
came in here to-night to tell you that your words this morn- 
ing made some impression upon my mind. They were 
brave, true, good words. I feel that I am an old man draw- 
ing near the end of my career. I feel that I should reform 
a life that has been rather wild. This evening, the conduct 
of my guests filled me with disgust at the habits in which 
I myself have been too much accustomed to indulge. So, 
when they were gone, I resolved to come to you and say 
what I am now about to say ! I love you, Zora ! You 
have awakened in my heart a pure affection, and a profound 
esteem, that no woman has ever yet been able to call forth. 
And, quadroon as you are — for you are much too light to 
be a mulatto, as was set down in the bill of sale — I will 
make you my wife to-morrow ! It is true that the laws of 
this State would not recognize such a marriage, but we can 
cross into a State where they do. And, of course, I will 
emancipate you at once. Come, my dear Zora ! what do 
you say to that ?” 


882 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Sir,” replied Astrea, unconsciously lowering her dag- 
ger, “ I thank you for your preference ! and for what, to 
you at least, must seem your very generous offer. And I 
hope that your professions of repentance are sincere, and 
that your reformation may be complete. But with that I 
can have nothing to do, as you must be aware that I can- 
not accept your proposal.” 

“ What, Zora ! you actually reject the elevation I offer 
you — that of a free woman and a wife ?” inquired Bumford, 
in seemingly sorrowful surprise, as he drew a little nearer 
to her in his walk. 

“Ah, sir, why should I reiterate a statement that you 
refuse to credit ? I have already said that I am a wedded 
wife!” x v 

“ This is most strange !” said Rumford, in apparent per- 
plexity, as he walked backward and forward in the room. 

“ Your adherence to this story is most wonderful. That, 
and the perfect consistency of your statements, is truly 
marvellous, and shakes my faith in the tale told me by 
Merrick, and almost tempts me to believe your own account 
of yourself to be the true one.” 

And as he finished these words, he drew nearer than ever 
to Astrea. 

“ Oh, sir, believe it ; believe it ; or rather test its truth 
in the way that I suggested to you. Write to my friends, 
Mr. Rumford !” implored Astrea, completely thrown off 
her guard. 

“ I will do so, Zora, or rather Mrs. Greville, as I shall 
henceforth call you, and cause you to be respected until the j 
arrival of your friends. I will do so to-morrow,” said Rum- 
ford, standing beside her. 

“And now, sir, since you acknowledge my rank and po- 1 
sition, may I request you to withdraw from my room ! 
And oh ! take with you my most sincere and earnest thanks, 
and the assurance that my friends will richly repay you for 
all losses that you have suffered on my account,” said 
Astrea, earnestly. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 383 

“ Certainly, Mrs. Greville 1” said Rumford. And in an 
instant he had thrown his arms around her, pinioned her 
arms in his embrace, and wrested the dagger from her 
hand ! 

Having done this, he retreated to the wall, leaned against 
it, and laughed aloud ! 

“ Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ! Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho !” he shouted, 
leaning back, and pointing his finger derisively at Astrea. 
“Your very humble servant, Mrs. Fulke Greville! How 
are your health and spirits at this moment, madam ? How 
is the gallant colonel, your husband ? Ha, ha, ha ! Ho, 
ho, ho ! Oh ! I was impressed with your words, was I ? 
Oh ! I offered you marriage, did I ? Oh ! I was going to 
reform my life, was I ? And, ah ! I was going to write to 
your friends, and restore you to your rank, was I ? Ha, 
ha, ha ! Ho, ho, ho ! Oh, Zora ! what a gull you were to 
think that I could be outwitted or defied by a child like 
you ! What do you think of your prospects now ? Do 
you know what they are ? I’ll tell yon w'hat mine are — to 
pass the remainder of the night in this room, in spite of 
all earth and heaven — and to take a kiss to begin with, my 
dear ! That will be all the more piquant, snatched like a 
brand from the burning of your wrath !” he said, as he ad- 
vanced toward his intended victim. 

But a marvellous change had passed over Astrea ! Her 
form seemed to dilate, expand, and rise until she stood a 
majestic presence in the room ; her head was thrown back, 
her eyes were starting, her arm was elevated on high with 
a gesture of supreme authority. An awful glory lighted 
up her face ! In her terrible beauty, she seemed a Cas- 
sandra about to prophecy ! a Pythoness sent to utter the 
oracles of a god ! or an Angel of Wrath pronouncing the 
doom of a world ! 

“ Pause !” she commanded, as Rumford advanced toward 
her. 

And, as if compelled by some all-potent spell, the planter 
paused. 


384 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ You have profaned the sanctity of a maiden bride’s bed- 
chamber! You have used treachery and force to disarm 
her of the only means she possessed of defending her 
purity. You think you have her at your mercy ! You mis- 
take ! I have you at mine /” 

“ That voice ! that voice !” exclaimed the planter, in 
horror. * 

“You have been tried, judged, condemned! And now, 
in the name of all outraged womanhood — I command you 
— die /” 

Affected by some fearful agitation, the planter stood and 
trembled. 

“ In the name of all pure spirits that watch over chaste 
women — I command you — die !” 

Rumford rocked upon his feet and grasped at the wall for 
support. 

“ In the name of the awful, Judge of quick and dead, 
whose laws you have defiled, whose name you have blas- 
phemed — I command you — DIE !” 

And the planter reeled and fell at the feet of the virgin 
bride — Astrea. 




CHAPTER XL VIII. 

THE FISH BOY AGAIN. 


Look in his eyes and thou wilt find 
A sadness in their beam, 

Like the pensive shade that willows cast 
On a sky-reflecting stream. 

There’s a sweetness of sound in his talking tones 
Betraying the gentle spirit he owns . — Eliza Cook. 


We must now take up the fortunes of Welby Dunbar, 
and explain the reason of the re-assumption of his boy- 
hood’s name. 

To do this we must make a brief retrospect of a few 
years. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 385 

When Mrs. Greville, accompanied by her daughter and 
her supposed step-son, left America for Europe, she made 
her arrangements for a lengthened absence. 

On her arrival in England, she engaged a highly accom- 
plished governess for her daughter, a very learned tutor for 
her son, necessary attendants for herself, and with this 
large party left again for the Continent. 

She extended her travels not only through Europe, but 
over Asia and into Africa. 

At the end of three years she returned with her party to 
England, placed her son at the University of Cambridge, 
where, at his own desire, he was to study the profession of 
law, and then proceeded to Paris, where she took up her 
residence, and engaged the best masters to complete the 
education of her daughter. 

Welby Dunbar, or Mr. Greville, as he still continued to 
be called, entered the University with the resolution to 
make the very best use of his opportunities while there. 
And he applied himself to study with such unremitted as- 
siduity as to graduate with great honor before he had 
reached the supposed age of twenty-one (for poor Welby 
had no accurate knowledge of what his own age really 
was) ; but of course he had entered upon the enjoyment of 
Fulke Greville ’s birthday as he did upon all that young 
gentleman’s other possessions and privileges — advantages, 
which Welby did i*ot intend to have forced upon him for 
one hour beyond that in which he should reach his sup- 
posed majority, and be free to cast them off. 

Although he had graduated, he was still, by Mrs. 
Greville’s desire, continuing his legal studies at Cambridge, 
in the office of a distinguished lawyer there, and waiting 
only for his next birthday to declare his identity and in- 
dependence, when he received a letter from that lady, en- 
closing a check for a thousand pounds, and desiring him 
to occupy and improve himself by visiting all the principal 
24 


386 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

law courts in Europe, while she and her daughter made 
another expedition to the East. 

You see that Mrs. Greville, except in the state and 
luxury of her mode of travel, was another Madame Ida 
Pfeiffer. 

As soon as Welby got this letter, as he wanted but two 
days of his supposed majority, he set out immediately for 
Paris, hoping to intercept Mrs. Greville’s journey, and re- 
solving to make his disclosure. 

But when he reached Paris he found that the lady and 
her party had already left for Marseilles. He lost no time 
in hurrying down to that port, where upon his arrival he 
learned that the Oriental Steam Packet Company’s ship 
Falcon had sailed an hour before for Alexandria, having 
on board Mrs. Greville, daughter, and two servants. No 
other packet for that port would sail for a month. To 
overtake them was now impossible. 

Therefore there was nothing farther for Welby to do but 
to take the goods Fate forced upon him and obey his 
patroness. He did visit all the principal law courts on the 
Continent, and if the truth must be told, found himself 
rather confused than improved by their conflicting prac- 
tices. He heard occasionally from Mrs. Greville and Lois, 
who were extending their travels as far as they could 
possibly penetrate with safety into the interior of Africa. 
And he wrote whenever there seemed^ the shadow of a 
cnance that they would get his letter. 

So passed two years and a half, at the end of which 
time, having sufficiently mystified himself with the science 
of justice as administered in the various law courts of 
Europe, Welby Dunbar fixed himself for the winter in 
Paris. He had scarcely settled himself in his lodgings, 
when he received a letter from Mrs. Greville, dated Cal- 
cutta, giving him an account of her travels through Asia, 
and enclosing an order on her London banker for another 
thousand pounds ; but fixing no time for her return. He 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 887 

answered this letter ; but still reserved his disclosure for 
a personal interview. 

However, in settling himself in Paris, he re-assumed his 
own name. He left his card with the American Minister 
and with other resident Americans. And without the ad- 
vantage of a single letter of introduction (for while many 
would have introduced him as Mr. Greville, who could have 
presented him as Mr. Dunbar ?), by the simple force of his 
personal worth he gained many good friends and even a 
considerable office practice. It was his intention, on re- 
turning to America, to apply for admission to the New York 
bar. There was but one contretemps that Welby dreaded 
— and that was an embarrassing meeting with some one 
who had known him as Mr. Greville. He resolved in such 
a case to adopt the only remedy — a full explanation of his 
singular position. But there was little likelihood of such 
an event, as during his residence at Cambridge, he had 
avoided forming acquaintances, and afterward, in going the 
rounds of the law courts of Europe, he had travelled incog. 

Early in the spring, to his great astonishment, Welby 
Dunbar received a letter from his patroness dated New 
York, telling him that she had formed the acquaintance of 
an American family at Calcutta, who were on the eve of 
sailing for their native country, and that she suddenly 
formed the resolution of joining their party and returning 
with them — also that she had written to him, giving him 
all this news, on the eve of sailing ; but fearing that he had 
not got that letter, as the mails were so uncertain, she re- 
peated the intelligence here. She concluded by entreating 
her dear son to join her as soon as possible in New York. 

Welby Dunbar wished nothing better than this I He 
engaged his passage in the first steamer that was to sail 
from Havre, and immediately commenced preparations for 
his voyage. It was while employed in this agreeable task 
that he learned the American Minister had been recalled 
nome and would return in the same steamer with himself. 


388 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


And the next day after receiving this intelligence, he was 
introduced to Madame de Glacie, as the reader already 
knows, and undertook to aid her with his professional ser- 
vices in her search after her daughter. 

The whole party sailed together from Havre, and in due 
time arrived safely at New York, or rather at the landing 
at Jersey City. 

There was an express train to start for Washington in an 
hour, and no other one until the next morning. The im- 
patience of Madame de Glacie to see her daughter, would 
upon no account admit of twelve hours’ delay. So with- 
out allowing her young attorney time to call and see his 
friends, or even to cross over to the city, she, and in fact 
the whole party, took the express to Washington that 
afternoon. 

We have already seen how lucky they were in meeting 
Captain Fuljoy at their hotel in Washington ; how prompt 
they were in hurrying down to Fuljoy ’s island; and how 
overwhelmed with consternation, sorrow, and despair at the 
intelligence that met them there. 

You have heard how Madame de Glacie, the first to re- 
cover from the terrible shock, and to doubt the fact of the 
murder of Astrea, resolved to remain and prosecute her 
investigations in the neighborhood of the isle, wdiile she 
sent her young attorney to advertise the missing girl 
through all the principal cities of the Union. 

Young Welby Dunbar went first to New York. One city 
was as good as another to begin with, and he was really 
very impatient to see Mrs. Greville and Miss Howard, make 
his important disclosure to them, and learn upon what 
terms he was thenceforth to remain with them. 

This question gave him, and had always given him, the 
greatest uneasiness ; it was the one trouble of his young 
life ! And now that the problem approached its solution, 
this uneasiness was augmented to the most poignant anxi- 
ety ! He loved, admired and honored Mrs. Greville, and 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


889 


was very proud of her as his adopted mother. It would bo 
terrible to him to lose her affection and esteem ! But Lois 
Howard was the star of his life ! He loved her with all the 
passion of his soul I She. was also his betrothed bride ! To 
lose her ! He could conceive no possibility of a future life 
on this planet for himself, after such a crushing calamity. 

If he were to suppress this disclosure, only for a few 
weeks, he might marry her, and make her and her fortune 
irrevocably his own ! 

If he should make the disclosure, he might, and probably 
would, lose her forever ! 

Yet it was his duty to make it, and so, come what would 
of calamity, it must be made ! 

In the midst of his keen personal anxiety, he did not 
forget the business of Madame de Glacie. He had arrived 
in the city late at night. But immediately after breakfast 
the next morning, he went out and distributed among the 
daily papers, a carefully worded advertisement, offering a 
large reward for reliable information regarding the missing 
girl. This duty occupied him all the morning. At noon 
he returned to his hotel, took a slight repast, made a fresh 
toilet, and set out to call upon Mrs. Greville, at the earliest 
hour that lady was expected to be visible. 

He soon reached Madison Square, and paused in sorrow- 
ful and anxious contemplation before the old, familiar house. 
With how many strange memories of pain and pleasure 
was it associated! Here he had been forcibly dragged 
from a state of utter poverty and destitution to one of 
wealth and luxury ! Here he had found a mother. Here 
he had first met Lois Howard! But now! how now? 
Should he cross that threshold, make his intended revela- 
tion, and leave the house, would he ever be permitted to re- 
turn to it again ? 

These were questions he scarcely dared to ask himself ! 
He hurried up to the door and knocked, and he wondered, 
while he waited for admission, if any of the old servants 


390 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

•who had known him in his boyhood as Fulke Greville, 
would appear to add to his embarrassment. He need not 
have been uneasy. Long years of absence on the part of 
the family, had effected an entire change in the domestic 
service of Mrs. Greville’s establishment. Not one of the 
old servants remained. A stranger came to the door. 

Welby Dunbar handed his card. 

The footman showed him into that well remembered little 
reception parlor into which, as a boy, he had once been 
dragged. It had undergone a thorough renovation, and in- 
stead of gold colored curtains, sofas, and chairs, it was fur- 
nished with pale blue. 

Welby had scarcely noticed these changes when the door 
opened, and a lady in an elegant morning dress of some 
fine oriental fabric, white and sprigged with gold, sailed 
majestically into the room. It was Mrs. Greeville, looking 
as beautiful and stately, as fresh and blooming as she had 
looked so many years ago. Time seemed to have but little 
power over her majestic beauty. 

As soon as her eyes fell upon young Dunbar, a ray of 
surprise and joy lighted up her face, and she hastened 
toward him with extended hands, exclaiming : 

“ Fulke ! Oh, my son ! What a happy surprise ! Why, 
when did you arrive ? You must have left Paris immedi- 
ately after the receipt of my letter ! Did you get my let- 
ter from Calcutta?” 

Welby could not answer all her questions in a breath, as 
she had asked them, so he confined his attention to the 
last, and replied, as he received and returned her embrace : 

“ I missed your letter from Calcutta ; but I received the 
last from New York. And I left Paris within a few days 
after its receipt.” 

“You good boy! but when did you arrive? There has 
been no steamer in for three or four daj^s ! I know it, be- 
cause I have been looking out for a letter from you, not 
hoping to see you so soon in person?” said the lady, in a 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 391 

happy tone, as she sank gracefully into an easy chair, and 
motioned Welby to take another one near her. 

Welby obeyed, and when he was seated, replied : 

“ I arrived by the ‘ Phoenix’, a week ago ” 

“ A week ago, you unnatural boy ; and you have not 
called to see me, or r#ther come home to me before to-day ? 
What have you been doing with yourself all this while ?” 
inquired the lady, half angrily. 

“ I came over with a distinguished client, whose business 
was of such eminent importance that it admitted of not one 
hour’s delay. We did not even cross to the city, but pro- 
ceeded at once from the custom-house to the station, and 
took the express train to Washington, where we arrived late 
the same night. I have been kept busily engaged upon the 
affairs of my client ever since my arrival in America. It 
was but last night I returned to New York, and this morn- 
ing I have seized the first free moment to pay my respects 
to you !” said Welby. 

“ Pulke ! once for all, I tell you, I do not like your delv- 
ing so hard at the drudgery of your profession ! There is 
no earthly necessity for it ! You will have quite enough to 
live upon without it ! Not, observe, that I find fault with 
your having a profession ! Every man of talent ought to 
have one ! But I will not have you delve at its drudgery 
like a pettifogger earning his daily bread ! I would like to 
see you an eminent lawyer like William Wirt or Daniel 
Webster !” 

Welby smiled, as he answered : 

“ But, my dearest Madam, do you imagine that either 
William Wirt or Daniel Webster reached the eminence they 
attained without a good deal of wearisome climbing; in 
other words, a good deal of delving at the drudgery of 
their profession, as you would call it ? Believe me, Madam, 
there is no royal road to eminence in any of the learned 
professions. For every aspirant whatever there is the same 
rugged and toilsome ascent ! And to very few is given the 
power to reach the summit !” 


392 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ You may be right, Fulke ! But I do not see how 
dancing attendance upon a client, like a lacquey upon his 
lord, is going to make you attorney-general, however!” said 
the lady, with a gay laugh. 

“ Where is Lois ? She has not made her appearance yet! 
Does she know that I am here ? *>r is she not well ?” 
inquired Welby, anxiously. 

“ Lois is gone to our jeweller to see about the setting of 
some fine emeralds I collected in the East. She left the 
house a few moments before you came, and so, of course, 
could not know of your arrival. As for her being well, she 
has never had an hour’s illness in her life, and was never in 
finer health than at present ! She will be delighted to see 
you, my dear Fulke ! And, by the way, I hope it will not 
be long before you and Lois agree to fix upon your marriage 
day. It is quite time to consummate your engagement ! 
She is twenty-three, you very nearly twenty-five ! You 
need not wait until you get into a handsome practice, for if 
you do, she will be gray and you will be bald before your 
marriage. There is no necessity for waiting at all ! With 
her handsome patrimony, and the fortune I am able to be- 
stow upon you, you may marry at once, and live in good 
style.” 

Welby lowered his eyes in sorrowful thought. The words 
of Mrs. Greville brought back to him the memory of that 
painful revelation which he felt it his duty to make to her ; 
which, when made, might change all his future prospects, 
deprive him of Lois, and ruin his happiness forever ! 

In the warmth of Mrs. Greville’s welcome to him, he had 
almost lost sight of the necessity of making this revela- 
tion ! Now he was reminded of it. In the midst of his 
distress, also, one thing perplexed him — he had sent up to 
her his card, bearing his true name — “Welby Dunbar” — . 
engraved upon it. 

She had come down twirling that card in her hand, and 
she was even now twirling it in her hand ; and yet, without 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


393 


any reference whatever to the other name, she continued to 
address him as Fulke Greville, and to treat him as her son. 

There must be some mistake ; perhaps, after all, the bit 
of enamelled pasteboard she twirled was not that which he 
had sent up, he thought. So he resolved to inquire. 

“ Madam, did the servant take up my card to you ?” 

“ No ! certainly not ! nor even your name ! I was alto- 
gether unprepared to meet you when I entered this room ! 

I came in to see Oh, dear me, that reminds me 1 How 

very rude of me ! But, really, your unexpected appearance 
drove everything else out of my head I” said Mrs. Greville, 
getting up and ringing the bell. 

“To what do you refer, Madam?” inquired the young 
man, anxiously. 

“ Why, to a great breach of politeness of which I have 
been guilty ! The fact is, that, just before I came down- 
stairs, I received this card, sent up by a gentleman who was 
waiting to see me ! — a Mr. — Mr. Wesley — Welby — Durham, 
no, Dunbar ! Welby Dunbar 1” said the lady, referring to the 
card in her hand, and then continuing : “I returned word 
that I would be down in a moment, and I came down and 
entered this room, expecting to see a stranger, when the 
sight of you drove every thing else from my memory !” 

“ Madam,” began Welby, in a sad tone; but before he 
uttered another word the door opened, and the footman 
appeared in answer to the bell. 

“Ah, John, you have come ! Now, where have you shown 
the gentleman who sent up this card ? Into the library ? 
morning parlor ? drawing-room, or where ? I expected to 
find him here !” 

“ Madam,” replied the man, approaching his mistress’s 
chair and speaking in a low, respectful tone, though with a 
look of* surprise, “he is here! there he sits; that is the 
gentleman as sent up that card 1” 

“ This ! why, how stupid you arc, John ! this is Mr. ” 

“Dear Madam!” interposed Welby, suddenly, “send 


394 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


your servant from the room ! I understand it all now, and 
I will explain ! But my communication must be for your 
private ear alone.” 

“ You may go, John,” said the lady ; and when the door 
had closed after the man, she turned to Welby with a face 
full of curiosity and interest, and inquired : 

“Now, Fulke, what is it?” 


CHAPTER XLIX. 

A STARTLING DISCLOSURE. 

IIo either fears his fate too much, 

Or his deserts are small, 

Who dares not put it to the touch, 

To lose or gain it all. — Montrose. 

“Madam, I am at this moment happy in the enjoyment 
of your affection, esteem, and confidence ! The next hour 
may change all that ! I have a revelation to make to you, 
which, when made, may banish me from your heart and 
home forever !” 

“ In the name of Heaven, Fulke Greville,” said the lady, 
turning deadly pale, “ what do you mean ? Have you been 
led into folly, vice, crime ? Have you done any thing un- 
worthy of the- name you bear ? If so, oh ! speak out ! Tell 
your mother ! Confess to the one being in the world who 
will never reproach you 1 And being penitent, you shall be 
pardoned, Fulke ! I will not break the bruised reed, even 
though my own heart should break !” 

“No, no, no!” said Welby, with great emotion and em- 
phasis. “ I have done none of these things which you fear ! 
My character and reputation are without reproach, and I 
am not unworthy to be called your son ! The worst that 
can be said of me is that I am in a false position !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 395 

“ In a false position ? You ? Explain, Fulke 1” said the 
lady, much relieved, however. 

“ In the first place, as your servant truly informed you, 
it was $ who sent up that card.” 

“ You 1 But it bears the name of Wesley — Wellesly — 
Welby Dunbar ! Ah ! I see ! You said that you were in a 
false position ! you send me up another name than your 
own ! Good Heaven, Fulke ! you must have been wrong- 
fully accused of some crime, and must be hiding from the 
police and going under an assumed name — the name that 
you sent up to me ! But could you fancy, my dear boy, 
that for such a misfortune, I could turn against you ? I 
could banish you from my heart and home ?” 

“ I fancied nothing but what was most magnanimous of 
you, dear lady ! But you are again mistaken ! I have been 
accused of no crime ; I am hiding from no police, and I am 
going under no assumed name ; the name upon that card 
is the only one upon which I can have any sort of claim, 
even if I have any rightful claim to that, which is doubt- 
ful.” 

“ The name upon this card, the only one to which you 
have any sort of claim — Fulke ! are you mad ?” 

“ Ah, no, Madam ! but most sadly sane !” said the young 
man, with a profound sigh. 

“ Will you please to explain yourself, then, Fulke ! and 
clearly, too ; for I pledge you my word, that hitherto, the 
more you have talked, the deeper this riddle has grown !” 
said the lady, somewhat impatiently. 

“ Madam, will you please to look once more at that card 
and read the name aloud ?” 

“ Welby Dunbar,” read the lady, looking up inquiringly. 

“ Is there nothing familiar in the sound of that name ?” 
asked Welby, impressively. 

“ Nothing whatever.” 

“ Have you no vague recollection of having heard it 
before, under somewhat singular and interesting circum- 
stances ?” 


396 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Not the slightest in the world. ” 

“ Dear Madam, carry your recollection back several 
years — back to that winter’s day when I, a poor, forlorn, 
orphan boy, was dragged into your splendid drawing-room 
by the three gentlemen who captured me in Canal street.” 

“ Fulke, yes ! I have too much reason to remember that 
boyish freak of yours ! It gave me more anguish than al- 
most any event of my life ! But 7, ^ ulke, have never once 
reproached you with it ! To have done so, indeed, would 
have been ungenerous, since all your subsequent conduct has 
been perfectly irreproachable ! So good, so affectionate, so 
solicitous to please me have you been, my love, that, whereas 
before you ran away, I only loved you in a conscientious 
sort of way, as the son of my late husband by his first 
wife, since that, my dear, I have loved you from the bottom 
of my heart, and for your own personal merits 1” 

“ Oh, that you may continue to regard me for myself 
alone, lady ! dear lady ! for that is the only claim I can 
venture to make upon you.” 

“But, my dear Fulke, why have you recalled that long 
past circumstance to my mind ?” 

“ Madam ; dear Mrs. Greville ; my more than mother 1 try 
to recall in detail the events of that night ; recollect the 
account given you of my capture by the gentlemen who ar- 
rested me. Recollect that they told you they found me 
crying oysters in Canal street ; that I resisted their attempts 
to capture me with all my boyish strength ! That I persisted 
in asserting myself to be an emigrant from England, a fish 
boy in the service of old Carnes, of Water street, my name 
Welby Dunbar 1” 

“ I remember that; but what of it? And what freak has 
made you use that old, false name again ?” 

“Lady,” said the young man, continuing, without imme- 
diately answering her question, “ remember, also, that when 
these gentlemen retired and left me alone with you, I still 
persisted in asserting that I was not your son ; I still re- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 397 

sisted the splendid destiny that was forced upon me, but to 
which I conceived I had no right !” A 

“ I know that you did, Fulke ; but why you did it, I can- 
not imagine, unless it was because your poor father left 
nothing, and I, who wished to enrich you for his sake, was 
only your step-mother !” 

“No, Madam, it was not that,” said the young man, sor- 
rowfully ; “ it was not that ; it was because, in sad truth, I 
was not what you claimed me to be ; I was not your step- 
son ; my name was not Fulke Greville ; I was indeed what 
I declared myself to be — a newly-arrived emigrant from 
England ; a fish boy in the service of old Carnes, of Water 
street ; and my name was Welby Dunbar! I had no means 
of proving my identity; the ship by which I came had 
' sailed again ! my emigrant companions had dispersed in 
every direction. Old Carnes could testify only to the fact 
that upon a certain day I had come to him for employment. 
That proved nothing, as any runaway school-boy might 
have done that for a freak ! So I had no means of proving 
mj' identity ! All my unsupported words were disregarded. 

I bore so striking a resemblance to your missing step-son, 
whom you had not seen for twelve months, as to seem his 
counterpart, or himself. I was a minor, in the power of 
those who believed and asserted themselves to be my legal 
| guardians ! And thus, in despite of all my protestations, 

I was torn from my humble sphere, and the condition of a • 
| gentleman forced upon me — upon me, a poor, forlorn, and 
nameless orphan. I say nameless, lady, for of my own 
origin I know nothing, not even that my parents bore the 
name which was first given to me ! But, oh ! lady, do you 
i imagine that, even while protesting against the greatness 
fj thrust upon him, the poor fish boy was not much tempted 
tj to be silent, and to ‘ take the goods the gods provided V He 
was! His one dream — poor outcast as he had been — was 
j to rise to the condition of a gentleman by his own exer- 
tions ! For that he came to this land of freedom and 


898 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


equality. For that lie would have toiled long years. And 
when unexpectedly^the opportunity of springing at once 
into that rank was forced upon him, do you not think that he 
was sorely tempted to embrace it ? He was, Mrs. Greville I 
he was 1 But the boy, poor in every thing else, was rich in 
the possession of a pure conscience ; that conscience would 
not permit him to accept a tempting position to which he 
had no right ! He protested against taking it ; and even 
when he knew that his protestations were all in vain, he 
warned you, when you should find out your mistake, not to 
brand him as an impostor I And he resolved that during his 
minority, he would obey his self-styled mother and self-con- 
stituted guardians ; do all he could to prove himself grateful 
for their bounty ; and make the best use of his opportunities 
for improvement ; but that as soon as he should attain his 
majority, and be free to act for himself, he would, at any 
sacrifice of personal feeling or pecuniary prospects, aban- 
don a position to which he had no just right. Lady, I 
appeal to yourself to judge whether the first section of those 
resolutions has not been kept ? For the rest, I havfc to 
inform you, that immediately upon reaching my majority, 
I re-assumed my boyhood’s name. I went to Paris to seek 
you, with the intention of making the revelation that I 
have made this day. But you were then far on your jour- 
ney to the East. My communication was not such a one 
* as could properly be made by letter, or trusted to the un- 
certainty of the Eastern mails. Thus I was unwillingly 
compelled to defer it to this long wished personal interview. 
This, Madam, is the explanation I had to make you. Lady ! 
in all the years of our intimate friendship, you have never 
known me to vary in the least degree from truth. The 
statement that I made to you when a boy, I repeat to you 
now that I am a man. Do you now believe me ?” 

Mrs. Greville had listened in perfect silence to this ex- 
planation, and as gradually the conviction of the truth 
forced itself upon her mind, she grew paler and paler, until 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


899 


at last, at its close, she sank back in her chair upon the very 
| verge of swooning. Her lips were mute, her eyes closed, 
her face as white as death. 

On seeing her condition, Welby’s feelings entirely over- 
came him. Throwing himself at her feet, he seized and 
covered her hands with kisses, exclaiming, in a broken 
voice : 

“ Lady ! Mrs. Greville ! oh, my more than mother ! look 
at me ! speak to me ! forgive me ! I was no willing im- 
postor I” 

“Oh! my son! my son! my lost son I” wailed the lady, 

! in a voice so broken by anguish as to be almost inaudible. 

“ He is not lost, dear lady ; he is not lost ! Whatever 
I becomes of the poor fellow at your feet, your son is safe ! 
he is found ! And if my resolution to make the disclosure 
that I have made had required a spur, it would have 
gained it from the moment that I had certain intelligence 
| of the real Fulke Greville’s existence ! Lady, listen, and 
j be happy ! When he ran away from school, he cast him • 
self upon the protection of his uncle, Captain William Ful- 
joy — of Fuljoy’s Isle — an old retired sea-captain, living on 
a remote island upon the coast of Maryland. But I believe 
you know who Captain Fuljoy was. Well, the captain 
brought him up as his own son ; sent him to the University 
I of Virginia, and afterward to West Point, and finally pro- 
cured him a commission in the regular army. He now 
holds the rank of a colonel, and though under a temporary 
i cloud, he is universally esteemed as a gentleman of high 
moral and intellectual excellence. Oh, lady, look up ! and 
while you rejoice in the recovery of your rightful step-son, 
speak a word of forgiveness — a word of kindness to the 
poor fellow who has so long and so unwillingly held his 
rank in society, and his. place in your affections 1” 

“And do you fancy it is of him I think ? of him, the 
froward, the perverse, the stiff-necked boy who fled from 
my charge, and has held himself aloof from my knowledge 


400 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

all these many years? No, no, no — I thought not of him; 
but of you — of you , my good ! my loving ! my true-hearted 
one! And to think that, after all, you are not my son !” 
exclaimed the lad}?-, throwing her arms around Welby, 
dropping her head upon his shoulder, and bursting into a 
passion of tears. 

Neither spoke for a time ; but at length the lady lifted 
her head, and laying both her hands upon the shoulders of 
Welby, gazed sadly in his face, as she said : 

“ Oh ! I might have known that you were not Fulke 
Greville. Bearing his perfect form and features as you do, 
yet your mind is so much higher, your heart so much ten- 
derer, and your spirit so much more refined than ever his 
were ! Oh, my dear boy ! it is scarcely half an hour since 
I told you, that before Fulke Greville ran away from 
school, I had cherished him from a sense of duty, and as 
my late husband’s son ; but that since yqu came back you 
had been so changed that I grew to love you for your own 
personal merits ! Ah, Welby ! little did I think that the 
boy who ran away and the boy who was brought back, so 
exact in personal appearance, so different in character, 
were different in identity too ! And to think that you, so 
good, so true, so loving, are not my son ! Oh, what shall I 
do! Oh, sorrow! sorrow!” cried Mrs. Greville, bursting 
anew into tears. 

“Lady, dear lady! my mother, my saviour, almost my 
creator, listen to me ! You have been a mother to me, you 
have saved me from utter indigence, you have made me what 
I am ! But for you I might still have been an oyster-carrier ; 
or, worse than that, in the despair of uncultivated talent 
and unsatisfied ambition, I might have been a drunkard or 
a felon ! You saved me from all that ! You rescued me 
almost from the gutter! You gave me a home and a 
mother ! You gave me an education and a profession ! 
You have made me a man ! And now, oh lady, let me ask 
you — is not the boy that you have thus loved, thus reared, 


N 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 401 

and thus established, as near to you, by all that you have 
done for him, as any step-son could be ?” 

“ Yes, yes, my own dear boy, yes ; but still I wish 3^011 
were my step-son — I wish you bore my name ! It is hard, 
it is distressing to find that you are not what for so many 
years I held you to be I u 

“Mrs. Greville! dear Mrs. Greville! I hope you do not 
hold me to have been a willing impostor during all these 
years?” inquired Welby, sadly. 

“ Impostor ! No, my dear ! How should you have 
been? You protested against the position in which we 
placed you, until you were silenced by authority. You 
resisted until you were conquered by irresistible force. 
What, then, could you do but what you have done ? — wait 
for your legal majority, when you should be free to act for 
yourself I My boy, you have acted well throughout, and 
with a rare wisdom indeed in one so young ! And as for 
my part, I cannot regret the mistake we made, since it 
rescued an excellent lad from the perils of poverty, and 
gave me so good a son, and rendered me happy for so many 
years ! You see, my dear, that the effect of the shock your 
communication gave me is already passing away ! I shall 
get entirely over it presently.” 

Welby kissed her hands in silence. 

“And now let me tell you, Welby! dear Welby! that, 
though I very much regret that your name is not Greville, 
yet I cannot let you go ! To cease to love you, to cease to 
take pride in you, to cease to look forward with ambition to 
your professional career, would be to cease to have a future 
of my own ! To cast you off, would be death ! Therefore, 
dear boy, take what name you will, but rest in my house, 
my only son and best beloved !” 

“ Lady ! dearest lady ” 

“Mother, Welby — I am still your mother.” 

“ Mother, then — angel mother, your magnanimity over- 
powers me! Nothing — no, nothing— not my whole life’s 
25 


402 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

devotion can ever repay you !” said the young man, in a 
voice choked with emotion. 

“ Do you not know that the delight I take in you repays 
me ? It is something, n^ dear, to have a son like you !” 

“ Mother, dear mother, there is another, however, who 
really has a son’s claim upon you ! I must not supplant 
him 1” 

“ You allude to Colonel Fulke Greville ? For the future 
I can only regard that gentleman as the son of my late 
husband ! Upon me, or my property, he has no legal claim 
whatever; his father left no property. It is true that I 
promised him on his death-bed to provide for Fulke as if he 
were my own son. And I should have kept my promise ; 
but since he withdrew himself from my protection, and 
threw himself upon that of his uncle ; and since he has re- 
mained silent for such a great number of years, there can 
be but little regard for me on his part ! Nevertheless, when 
he marries and settles, I will offer him that portion of pro- 
perty which my affection for his father first prompted me to 
set aside to accumulate for him. But I have much mis- 
taken the haughty spirit of Fulke Greville, if he accepts it !” 

Here Welby felt inclined to relate the story of Colonel 
Greville’s marriage, with all its singular circumstances ; but 
rightly judging that the lady had heard exciting news 
enough for one day, he resolved to defer that second com- 
munication to another occasion. 

“And now,” said Mrs. Grevile, “there is another who 
must be informed of this change of name — Lois !” 

At the mention of her , the blood rushed in torrents to 
his face, and then receding, left him pale as marble, while 
his whole frame shook with emotion. 

“ Whjr are you so agitated, my dear ? Believe me, Lois 
will not be so much shocked as I was ! The young receive 
new impressions with so much more ease than the middle- 
aged.” 

“ Lois ! Lois ! oh, Madam ! how will this revelation affect 
my relations with Lois ?” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 403 

“ Not at all, I imagine ! for though not Fulke Greville, 
you are still my son ! And what is more, you are still your- 
self ! And that, my Welby, is, after all, the best praise I 
can bestow upon you ! And if you have not inherited the 
old time-honored name of Fulke Greville, yet you will do 
better than that — you will make your own illustrious ! Yes, 
my dear Welby, I am not young ; yet I hope to live to see 
you an eminent lawyer and statesman yet 1” said the lady, 
cheerfully. 

“ Oh ! heaven grant that I may fulfil your expectations, 
mother ! But Lois ! how shall I tell Lois, that for so many 
years I have borne a false name and held a false position 1” 

“You need not tell her, yourself! You have had pain 
enough, extreme pain, indeed, in making the communica- 
tion to me. Leave me to inform Lois ! I expect her in 
every moment ! So now retire to your hotel, my son, and 
order your luggage sent here immediately. I will have 
your room prepared for your reception. Come home in 
time to dine with us at eight, and then you will see at a 
glance, by the reception that Lois will give you, what effect 
my communication has had upon her, for, in the interim, it 
will have been made !” 

Welby arose and took the lady’s kind hand, and pressed 
it fervently to his lips ; but she drew him to her bosom in a 
warm embrace, and kissed him fondly. 

And so Welby left the house he had entered two hours 
before with so many dreadful misgivings — left it happier 
than he had ever been in the whole course of his life ! — for, 
as the reader knows, before he had ever seen Mrs. Greville, 
his boyhood had been made miserable by poverty ; and since 
he had been taken by that lady, his youth had been dark- 
ened by a sense of his false position, and burdened with 
the secret that he knew must be told, yet dreaded to tell. 
Thus Welby had never known true happiness until now ! 
now the terrible secret was off his breast ! now the dreaded 
revelation had been made, and had not ruined him ! had, on 


404 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


the contrary, only confirmed his position, which was no 
longer a false one ! 

He walked to his hotel as though he trod on air ! When 
he reached it, he sent his luggage on at once to Madison 
i square. Then he wrote a letter to Madame de Glacie, tell- 
ing her of the steps he had already taken toward the dis- 
covery of Astrea. 

When he had despatched this letter, it was full time for 
him to keep his appointment at Madison Square. He went 
thither immediately. He was shown into the drawing-room, 
where Mrs. Greville and Miss Howard waited to receive 
him. 

Lois looked beautiful in her evening dress of rose-colored 
glace silk, trimmed with fine lace, and her blooming face 
shaded with her sunny, auburn ringlets. 

As soon as Welby entered she arose and advanced to 
meet him, holding out her hand, and saying, in her frank 
and cordial manner : 

“ I am so very glad to see you, dear Welby ! Heaven 
bless you, Welby, but did you really fancy that your mere 
change of name would effect a change in my regard. Why, 
I think Welby Dunbar quite as pretty a name as Fulke 
Greville 1 ” 

He pressed the hand she gave him, and led her back to 
her seat, where they were immediately joined by Mrs. 
Greville. 

He was too deeply moved to trust himself as yet to speak. 

But, happily for the relief of all parties, dinner was 
served. After so long a separation, this was a joyful 
reunion. All were happy ; but Welby was the happiest of 
the party. The evening passed pleasantly in music and 
conversation. Mrs. Greville and Lois told thrilling inci- 
dents, and amusing anecdotes of their Eastern travels, and 
Welby gave an interesting account of his experiences in 
the law courts of Europe. 

Unwilling to separate, they sat up until a very late hour, 
and even then said “ good-night” with reluctance. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 405 

In the course of the next few days, Mrs. Greville took 
care to present Mr. Dunbar to her circle of fashionable ac- 
quaintances ; her new circle ; for twelve years had made 
such a thorough change in the ever-shifting scenes of New 
York, that upon her return from Europe she found scarcely 
one of the old set remaining — certainly none that had any 
distinct remembrance of the lad Welby Dunbar under the 
name of Fulke Greville. 

A handsome office, in an eligible situation, was taken by 
Mr. Dunbar, and he was soon after admitted to practice at 
the New York bar. 

But, alas ! briefs were slow to come in to the handsome 
and talented young lawyer. 

“It is because they do not know your power, my dear 
Welby ! How should they, indeed ! But do you take up 
the cause of the indigent widows and orphans — there is al- 
ways plenty of them, with real or imaginary wrongs to be 
redressed ; volunteer to act for the poor who cannot pay 
• for counsel, and do it with as much zeal as if you had a 
thousand dollars as a retaining fee 1 And that course will 
at least make you known. And if you do not at first get 
money, you will get fame ! And after that, wealthy clients 
will flow in upon you faster than you can receive them ! I 
really think poor clients were invented for the special benefit 
of young lawyers, as poor patients were for young doctors. 
They can’t pay, but they make the skill of their benefac- 
tors known, and so help them to a more profitable practice,” 
said Mrs. Greville, one morning, to her son. 

Welby felt that this advice was good, and resolved to 
follow it. But he knew, at the same time, that to gain a 
lucrative business must be the work of years. 

One evening, when he had been home about a fortnight, 
he found himself alone with Mrs. Greville and Lois, in their 
pleasant parlor, with no prospect of being interrupted, and 
seized the opportunity of telling them the strange story of 
Colonel Greville and Astrea, in all its details, as far as they 
were known to himself. 


406 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Of course, the recital filled his hearers with wonder and 
compassion. 

“ That poor, bereaved mother ; how terrible her suspense 
must be ! So she was the client whose impatience hurried 
you off to Washington before you could even call upon us, 
whom you had not seen for three years ! Well, I cannot 
blame either her or you. Poor lady, I shall write to her a 
sympathizing letter, and beg her to come on and remain 
with us while these investigations proceed,” said Mrs. Gre- 
ville. 

And as she was a prompt woman, she wrote at once, and 
despatched her letter in time to catch the evening mail. 

In four days Madame de Glacie’s answer came back, 
written in a beautiful Italian hand, and filled with the fer- 
vent gratitude of a warm Italian heart. But she declined 
the invitation, upon the ground that she could not leave 
her aged friend, Captain Fuljoy, or her imprisoned son-in- 
law, Colonel Greville, both so much afflicted, and so much 
in need of comfort.” 

“ Perhaps she is right ; she is happier with them,” said 
Mrs. Greville ; and the subject was dismissed. 

The marriage of Welby Dunbar and Lois Howard was 
arranged to take place on the first of the coming month. The 
ceremony was to be performed at ten o’clock in the morn- 
ing at Grace church. The young couple were to return to 
a sumptuous wedding breakfast, and immediately after- 
ward set out for a bridal tour to Niagara and the Thou- 
sand Isles. They were then to return, and take up their 
permanent residence with Mrs. Greville. For so that ex- 
cellent but despotic lady would have it. And the young 
people liked the plan. Lois was deeply attached to the 
mother from whom she had never been separated for a day, 
with the exception of the one sad, homesick year at school. 
And as for Welby, it would have been difficult for him to 
have told which he loved with the most enthusiasm — his 
stately and beautiful mother, or his lovely bride elect. In 
sober truth, he adored the one and worshipped the other. 


THE FOE TUNE SEEKER. 


407 


The most splendid preparations were made for the ap- 
proaching marriage. The first milliners, dress makers, and 
jewellers of the city were engaged upon the bride’s trous- 
seau. Congratulations poured in upon the family. 

The evening before the wedding arrived. The table for 
the wedding breakfast was already splendidly set out in the 
dining-room and the room closed up until the morning. 

Lois and Welby sat together in the elegant little recep- 
tion parlor. Upon a round table, covered with a velvet 
cloth, in the centre of the room, were arranged the beauti- 
ful bridal presents — magnificent sets of jewels, vases, sta- 
tuettes, books, a writing-desk of papier-mach4, a work-box 
of malachite, a dressing-case of rosewood with silver fit- 
tings, etc., etc., etc. 

More presents were continually arriving. 

Lois had risen and was showing Welby a card case of 
virgin gold that pleased her fancy, when suddenly the door 
opened and Mrs. Greville, pale as death, shaking as with an 
ague fit, and holding in her hand an open letter, rushed in- 
to the room 1 

“ Lois ! Welby! Your marriage cannot go forward !” she 
cried, and tottering toward the nearest sofa, sank into a 
deep swoon. 


CHAPTER L. 

ORPHAN ETTIE. 


If you but knew her good and tender heart, 

Its girl’s trust, its woman’s constancy, 

How pure yet passionate, how calm yet kind, 

How grave yet joyous, how reserved — yet free 
As light whore friends are; how imbued with love 
The ^yorld most prizes, yet the simplest. — Browning. 


We left Ettie Burns weeping over the grave of her grand- 
father — her only friend. But little time was given Ettie to 


408 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

weep. The hard hand of necessity, with its very rouglf 
pocket handkerchief, wiped her eyes. 

Old Captain Euljoy, in the midst of his own bitter griefs, 
lost no time in discharging the trust left him by his deceased 
friend. 

He had personally directed the funeral, and from the 
grave he would have led Ettie to his own house. But the 
weeping girl begged that she might be permitted to return 
to her old home, and remain there till the last moment, 
before departing for the distant abode of her grandmother. 
The farm and farm-house were to be rented out, and the 
rents to be devoted to Ettie’s support, or left to accumulate 
for her benefit, as her grandmother should prove to be able 
and willing to keep her or otherwise. The stock and furni- 
ture were to be sold at once, or as soon as possible, to pay 
the funeral expenses of the major, to give Ettie and her 
attendant a respectable mourning outfit, and to defray their 
expenses to their future home. 

But as this would probably be a work of time, the good 
old captain, with his accustomed liberality, advanced all 
the money necessary for these purposes. 

Thus, then, it was on a lovely summer morning that Et- 
tie Burns, Miss Pinchett, and Captain Euljoy stood upon 
the rustic porch of the old farm-house, watching up the 
creek for the distant appearance of the “Busy Bee,” who 
was that morning expected on her return trip from Creek- 
head, and by whom Ettie and Miss Pinchett were to take 
their passage to Baltimore. On the summit of the hill in 
front of the house waved a little red flag, as a signal for the 
boat to stop and send a skiff ashore there for passengers. 

Poor Ettie loved her home as a kitten does. That morn- 
ing she had visited and taken leave of every room in the 
house, every barn, corn house, and wood-shed on the farm. 
She had fed the poultry for the last time ; she had stroked 
the cows, and hugged the sheep, patted the pigs on the 
head, and cried over the horses And she had fondled her 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 409 

dog and cat, and committed them to the tender care of Cap- 
tain Euljoy, who promised to take them all with him to the 
isle, and love them for Ettie’s sake. And to prove it, the 
old man held in his arms the tortoise-shell cat, which he 
continually caressed, and the little lapdog, which lay sleep- 
ing with its head on his shoulder. 

Ettie’s large, dark eyes were red with weeping at leaving 
her beloved old home, and yet sparkling with light at the 
thought of the strange new world into which she was going. 

“ Here comes the steamer ! Courage, my little girl ! You 
are about to enter upon the great world !” cried the captain, 
as he levelled his glass far up the creek, where, through the 
thin, golden morning mist, the white smoke of the steam- 
boat was seen. And soon the sound of her paddle wheels 
was heard, and soon after she came in sight — a beautiful 
object, as she sped onward over the broad, bright waters, 
shining in the morning sun between their green-wooded 
shores. She saw the signal, for she turned her course so as 
to come down on this side between Euljoy ’s Isle and 
Burnstop. 

“ Now, my brave girl ! come along,' and never look behind 
you !” said the captain, as he transferred both cat and dog 
to one arm, and gave the other to Ettie to lead her down 
the hill. 

Ettie’s full, crimson lips trembled, and her large, dark eyes 
filled with tears. 

“ Good-by, old home ! good-by, dear old home !” she 
cried, as she took the captain’s offered arm. They rapidly 
descended the hill, and came down to the water’s edge. 
Their luggage was already on the beach, in charge of the 
captain’s servant, Stepney. 

The steamer had stopped just opposite the spot where they 
stood, and sent out a boat, that was now rapidly approach- 
ing the shore. Every stroke of the oars that brought her 
nearer, seemed to fall heavily upon Ettie’s heart. As it 
grated upon the sand, on reaching the beach, Ettie threw 
herself, sobbing, into the arms of the old captain. 


410 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ Here ! hold the dog and cat, Stepney !” said the old 
sailor, transferring the pets to his man, while he drew Ettie 
into his embrace, kissed her, and solemnly blessed her. 
Lifting his hat from his venerable white head, and placing 
his hand upon hers, he said : 

“ May the Father of the fatherless watch over you, my 
beloved child I May He preserve you from all the tempta- 
tions, sins, and perils that beset your youth, sex, and or- 
phanage ! May He lead you through a righteous, useful, 
happy life, to a good old age, a peaceful death, and a blessed 
immortality, for the Saviour’s sake ! Amen !” 

Then he put on his hat, lifted her as though she had been 
an infant, and placed her in the boat. 

Ettie was sobbing as if her heart would break. 

The captain then courteously assisted Miss Pinchett into 
the boat, seated her comfortably, shook hands with her, and 
stepped back upon the sands. The rowers took their oars, 
and were about to push the boat off, when Ettie looked up 
from the handkerchief in which she had been sobbing, and 
said : 

“ My little dog and cat ! I haven’t said good-by to the 
poor things yet !” 

But even while she spoke, the captain was bringing them 
to her. 

“ Take them, Ettie ! take them with you, dear child,” he 
said, placing them in her lap. 

“ But, oh ! may I ? Will the people on the boats and in 
the cars let me take my little dog and cat ?” said Ettie, 
eagerly,- smiling through her tears. 

“ Yes, my dear ! they are so small and gentle. They will 
annoy no one. Miss Pinchett can take the cat and you the 
dog. If any one objects, tell them that you are a poor 
fatherless and motherless girl, going among strange rela- 
tives, and your two little friends are all that is left of your 
home. My word for it, no one will wish to deprive you of 
them. Have faith in the good feelings of your fellow- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


411 


beings, Ettie ! Once more good-by, my child !” said the 
captain, stooping and pressing a kiss upon her forehead, 
| and then turning hastily away, and striding to the shore, to 
conceal the tears that rushed to his eyes. 

The boat put olf. Ettie clasped her pets to her bosom, 
and sat watching the hill, the house, and the captain, until 
the steamer was reached. 

Then, in the bustle of getting on board, of course she 
lost sight of them. But as soon as she reached the upper 
I deck, she turned her face to them again. There they were : 
the old w'ooded hill — the house, with its rustic porch, peep- 
i ing out from between the trees — and the good old captain 
standing on the beach waving his handkerchief. 

Through nearly blinding tears Ettie watched them, and 
waved her own. 

The boat started gaily down the creek, bat Ettie ’s face 
was still turned to the home and friend of her childhood. 
She watched them with a loving constancy, until the hill, 
the house, and the old man, dropped behind, receded far, 
and faded in the distance. 

“ Oh, Father in Heaven ! grant that I may come back to 
them all again !” prayed Ettie, bursting into a passion of 
tears and sobs. Miss Pinchett sat in silence by her side, 
holding th<*cat in her lap. And thus they passed down 
the beautiful creek, and reached the little seaport town of 
Comport at its mouth. Here the Busy Bee stopped some 
twenty minutes, to take in the mail, some freight, and a 
few passengers. All this time Ettie sat buried in grief, not 
caring to look up. She had often been to Comport, so the 
little place had nothing new to attract her. But Comport 
had been the utmost limit of her travels. She had never 
been farther from home than that. To her experience, that 
was the end of the world, the jumping-off place ! Still, 
she was familiar with it, and there was nothing at its 
crowded and busy little wharf to win her for one moment 
from her sorrow; so she sat with her arms around her little 


412 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


dog, and her weeping face hidden upon his curly white 
hair. 

The truest sjunpathy is silent, and therefore Miss Pinchett 
sat beside the young mourner, without, just now, making 
any attempt to stay her tears. She thought, and justly 
thought, it was better that Ettie should have her cry out. 
Such gusts of tears and sobs refresh a j^outhful mourner’s 
heart, as thunder-storms do the face of nature. 

At length the boat started, and left Comport with its 
busy little traffic far behind. 

Then Miss Pinchett thought it time to speak. 

“ Look, Ettie, my love,” she said, “ we are out in the bay, 
now ! You have never seen the open bay before.” 

Ettie looked up with her dilated and tearful eyes. She 
was too much of a child not to be pleased with a new scene. 
She looked around. 

Water ! water ! everywhere — rolling out in vast, liquid, 
heaving fields, to the utmost verge of the horizon. 

“How grand!” said Ettie, wiping her eyes, and smiling 
like a sun-burst after a storm. And fascinated by the first 
sight of the sea, she sat, sending her gaze out to the far 
distant line of light where the water met the sky. 

But presently, she happened to turn her head and see the 
dark blue line of the Maryland shore behind her, and her 
mood changed, and she threw herself in Miss Pinehett’s 
arms, and burst into a fresh gust of tears and sobs, exclaim- 
ing between them : 

“ Oh, my dear old home ! Oh, my dear good friends ! Oh, 
my dear old Maryland ! Shall I ever, ever, ever, see you 
all again ?” 

“ Yes, dear, you will see them often and often again, 
please the Lord!” said the old lady, gently caressing her. 

“ But oh ! look, Miss Pinchett,” she exclaimed, pointing 
to the receding shore. “It is going, going, going, drop- 
ping behind the horizon ! My old Maryland shore ! My 
dear old Maryland shore ! Oh ! how long will it be before 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


413 


I see you again ? But I will never love another place like 
l you, old home ! No splendor of fortune in other lands shall 
ever turn my heart from you 1 And when Ettie is free, she 
| will come back to you again and be happy !” 


CHAPTER LI. 

ETTIE ENTERS THE WORLD. 

Oh, wonder 1 

How many goodly creatures there are here! 

How beauteous mankind is ! Oh, brave new world, 

That has such people in it. — Shakespeare.. 

Ettie watched until the last faint line of the shore had 
faded quite away, and there was nothing around her but a 
vast circle of water, of which her busy little steamer seemed 
the centre. 

Presently a bell rung. 

“ That is the first dinner bell, my dear. We had better 

I go down into our cabin and take off our bonnets,” said 
Miss Pinchett. 

Ettie had never in her short life been on board a steamer. 
All her trips about the creek had been performed in her 
I grandfather’s little canoe, therefore of the interior economy 
of a steamboat she knew just nothing at all. 

It was, then, with some degree of childish curiosity that 
she followed Miss Pinchett down the little winding stairs 
that led to the small compartment in the middle of the boat 
called the Ladies’ Cabin. Fortunately, there were no ladies 
except Ettie and Miss Pinchett. They had the cabin all to 
themselves. 

Ettie looked around with much interest. There were 
eight berths, four on each side. There was a bureau and 
looking-glass at the end, a little centre-table, with a Bible 


414 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

on it, in the middle, and two rocking-chairs beside it. 
These were the private accommodations offered by the Busy 
Bee to her lady passengers. And they were amply sufficient, 
lady passengers being very rare on the little steamer. 

“Well,” said Ettie, gazing around her, “the steamboat 
seemed to me like a living thing moving through the water, 
and this close place might be its stomach ! But where are 
we to sleep?” 

Miss Pinchett pointed to the berths, saying : 

“ We are the only occupants of the cabin ; we can have 
a choice of all these.” 

“What, these shelves! We shall roll off, Pinchy !” said 
Ettie, with something like a return to her old gaiety. 
“ Pinchy” was Ettie’s pet name for her friend, by which 
she always addressed her except in moments of grief or 
gravity. The old lady hailed it now as a sign of Ettie’s 
returning cheerfulness. 

“ There ! there is the second bell ! They don’t give a 
body time here to comb their hair,” said Miss Pinchett, as 
another bell sounded through the boat. 

The stewardess, a short, fat, motherly-looking black 
woman, came in now to show them the way to the little 
dining saloon. 

This was also the gentleman’s cabin, and their berths 
were ranged upon each side, tier above tier. The long 
table, covered with a good dinner, stood in the middle. 
There were about a dozen guests seated, comprising farmers 
and tradesmen, who were going lip to Baltimore to sell or 
to buy goods. Among them was a neighbor of Major Burns, 
with whom Ettie had a slight acquaintance. Meeting him 
there afforded another diversion to her mind. A steamboat 
dinner is usually disagreeable enough to most people, but 
to Ettie it was a most interesting novelty. 

When it was over, accompanied by Miss Pinchett, she 
returned to the cabin to see after her pets. Here she was 
met by the stewardess, who pointing indignantly to where 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 415 

the little dog Flora and the cat Nancy were running about, 
she said: 

“ See here, ladies ! we never allows no cats nor no dogs, 
no how, in our boat!” 

“ Oh, but please ” began Ettie, when Miss Pinchett 

stopped her, and slipping a gold piece in the hand of the 
woman, said : 

“ There are no ladies but ourselves in the cabin, to be 
annoyed by these little creatures, so perhaps you will bring 
them something to eat.” 

“ Oh yes, mum, cert’ny,” said the woman, instantly chang- 
ing her tone. 

Ettie had the satisfaction of seeing her pets well fed, and 
then they went up on deck, and sat and watched the rip- 
pling waves as they washed the boat’s side, or noticed the 
track of foam left behind its stern, or looked over the blue 
expanse of water, observing here and there a distant sail. 
Thus passed the evening until the late tea hour. 

Even after that, Ettie came up on deck to see the setting 
sun sink down, as it were, into the abyss of the sea, draw- 
ing after it a long line of light from the surface of the water. 
Then, as the short twilight passed away, she sat watching 
the stars shine out from the clear blue-black sky above, and 
the phosphoric fire sparkle on the rippling, dark waters 
below. There were neither winds nor waves to disturb 
the beautiful motion of the steamer, as it glided on its way. 

At length, however, Ettie, wearied by a day of unusual 
excitement, went below and turned in, and was soon rocked 
to sleep in the cradle of her berth. She slept a sound and 
dreamless sleep through the night, lulled by the gentle 
motion of the boat. She was awakened at length by the 
stopping of this motion. She opened her eyes and saw that 
it was dawn, and that Miss Pinchett, already dressed, was 
standing before her. 

“ We are at the landing,” said the lady ; “ get up and 
dress j the passengers are all ready to go on shore. We have 


416 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


only time to snatch a hasty breakfast, if we wish to catch 
the early train.” 

In an instant Ettie rolled out of her berth ; and she got 
herself into her clothes quicker than she had ever done in 
her life before. 

Miss Pinchett busied herself with gathering together all 
their little personal effects that lay about the cabin, and 
tying them up in parcels. 

Presently the stewardess, whose soul had been bought by 
the bit of gold, came in to bring a plate of meat for Ettie’s 
pets, and to say that the breakfast was on the table. 

They went into the saloon, made a hasty meal, and then 
having gathered all their luggage together, not forgetting 
Flora and Nancy, they had it piled in and about a hack, 
which they entered, and ordered to be driven to the Phila- 
delphia railway station. 

They were fortunate in just catching the express train, 
and soon found themselves seated in the comfortable ladies’ 
car, and flying along the country. 

To Ettie, who had never seen a railway train before, this 
was all like necromancy. And as cities, towns, and villages, 
fields, forests, and farms fled behind the rushing cars, she 
looked after them with eyes of terror. And when a train 
from the opposite direction came flashing past, she shrunk 
up in a little heap and clung to Miss Pinchett for safety. 
Ettie ’s pets did not seem to approve of these goings-on any 
more than their mistress did ; for while Ettie would shrink 
and tremble, the little dog would bark, and the little cat 
put up its back and spit defiance at the irresistible mon- 
ster. 

The car was not full. Ettie and her companions had 
four seats to themselves. And moreover, there was no one 
sitting very near them. Pehaps that was the reason why 
no one objected to the presence of the pets. It is true that 
when the conductor came around to collect the tickets, he 
did look rather hard at these unusual passengers ; but as 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


417 


Ettie raised her large, dark, appealing eyes to his face, and 
he noticed her sad countenance and deep mourning dress, 
he merely said : 

“ Well, well ; all right,” and went on his way; but not 
until Ettie’s bright smile, bursting like sunshine through 
her tears, had thanked him. 

In an hour or two, also, finding that she was not ground 
to powder by the rushing, thundering, and crashing trains, 
she plucked up courage and looked around, and her spirits 
rose. She was passing through miles and miles of a richly 
cultivated country, the like of which she had never beheld 
in her own beautiful but wild region. She was entering 
upon a strange, new life. She looked with the greatest interest 
upon every thing around her, yet the thought of the dear 
old grandmother she was to find at the end of her journey 
charmed her more than any thing in its course. 

Miss Pinchett, overpowered by the swift motion of the 
train, settled herself in the corner of her seat and fell 
fast asleep. The cat.and dog followed her example. And 
so did many of her fellow passengers. 

Ettie fell to day-dreaming, and all about her grand- 
mother, and her maiden aunt ! — for, alas ! there was a maiden 
aunt in the case ! — and if the thought of the latter was not 
an absolute horror to Ettie, it was at least a very serious 
drawback to her anticipations of happiness ; for she knew 
in her own mind, without any one’s telling her, that this 
obnoxious maiden aunt was tall and bony, with a sharp 
nose and a sharp voice, and that she spent her time in 
scolding servants and making pickles, and that she would 
be sure to want to teach her, Ettie, to do crochet work and 
add up sums, both of which the child’s soul abhorred ! 

But it was the nature of Ettie’s buoyant spirit always to 
look upon the bright side. So she speedily sent the image 
of her repulsive maiden aunt to Coventry, and called up 
that of her grandmother. Ah, that was something to de- 
light in ! 

26 


418 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Ettie had never known a mother’s perfect love, nor a 
grandmother’s indulgent fondness ; but she had dreamed 
of both ! A mother’s love would never be hers ; but she 
was about to enjoy a grandmother’s ! She had noticed how 
other girls had been loved by their mothers and grand- 
mothers, and that the manifestations of a mother’s love 
were part caresses and part rebuke ; while those of a grand- 
mother’s were all petting. And she greatly preferred the 
latter. 

She recalled to mind the rustic grandmothers she had 
seen in her native region — good, old women in stuff gowns 
and large aprons, and white caps and round spectacles — 
comfortable old ladies, who wore bottomless pockets with 
endless supplies of gingerbread for the children. 

Then she pictured to herself her own grandmother who 
lived in the city, and was said to be wealthy, and she 
imagined her to be a nice old lady, with soft, silky white 
hair just parted beneath her close book muslin cap, and 
wearing a fine black bombazine dress, with a book muslin 
tucker folded around her neck inside her dress, and a black 
silk apron and black lace mitts. She liked this old lady, 
and thought how happy she should be to have such a one 
to pet her. 

This grandmother she fancied lived in a pretty cottage 
with a flower garden near the suburbs of the city, quite 
away from its noise and heat and dust. 

And this grandmother would give her a pretty bedroom 
all to herself, with white dimity curtains to the bed, and a 
white jasmine vine growing over the window. And she 
would find out how destitute Ettie was of all conveniences 
for neatness, order, and comfort, and being herself a very 
particular old lady, she would take Ettie to the city and 
present her with a japan dressing case, a painted work box 
and a little mahogony writing-desk, all completely furnished. 
Of any thing more elegant than these, the orphan never 
dreamed ! 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


419 


And, oli ! she resolved to be so attentive and dutiful and 
affectionate to this dear grandmother, and to repay her so 
richly for all her love. 

So absorbed was Ettie in her day-dream that she never 
awoke until she was startled by the rising of every one in 
the car, who begun to hurry on their shawls and pick up 
their travelling bags, as for a general stampede. As the 
train was still in motion, Ettie did not know what to make 
of this ! But as this mode of travelling seemed to present 
a succession of novelties, Ettie would not betra}^ her sur- 
prise. So she only gave Miss Pinchett a sharp nudge to 
wake her up, and said : 

“ The people are all going ! I don’t know what is the 
matter !” 

“ Have we reached the ferry-boat ? Oh, yes, so we 
have I” yawned the spinster, starting up and beginning to 
gather together her travelling bag, umbrella, and extra 
shawl. They followed the crowd, thus reaching in safety 
the ferry-boat, where Ettie and Miss Pinchett went to a 
long and crowded table and got a luncheon of hot coffee 
and stewed oysters, and where Ettie bought a slice of beef- 
steak, which she gave to her pets in the privacy of the 
“ Ladies’ Dressing-Boom,” where nurses “most did congre- 
gate” to attend to their babies. 

Again following the crowd, Ettie and Miss Pinchett en- 
tered the connecting train of cars, and once more found 
themselves rushing over the land with lightning speed ! 

Again Miss Pinchett, overcome by her luncheon and 
the motion of the train, fell asleep. 

And Ettie fell to day-dreaming about her nice, old 
grandmother, the suburban cottage, the white curtained 
bedroom, the dressing-case, work-box, writing-desk, etc. 
And so she continued to dream until late in the afternoon, 
when the train once more stopped at the water’s side, and 
they had to leave it to enter a ferry-boat, and cross a broad 
river like an arm of the sea. 


420 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

But when this ferry-boat approached the opposite shore, 
Ettie, who was on the lookout, beheld a magnificent city, 
the grandeur of which had never even entered her dreams, 
although those dreams were of the grandest. They landed 
in the midst of a bustle that nearly stunned little Ettie 
into idiocy. 

“ Here we are, my dear, at our journey’s end ! In an 
hour w r e shall be seated at tea in the old lady’s parlor,” 
said Miss Pinchett, as she beckoned a hackman, and gave 
him the tickets to get their luggage. 

“Hold your pocket in your hand, Ettie, or it may be 
picked in an instant,” said Miss Pinchett, while they were 
waiting for the hackman to return. 

Ettie clapped her hand on her pocket, but the next in- 
stant exclaimed in dismay : 

“ Oh ! it’s too late ! it’s already picked ! my pocket-book 
is gone !” 

“ Goodness, gracious, me alive! how much was in it?” 
cried Miss Pinchett, in consternation. 

“A quarter and a fip and three cents and two postage 
stamps !” 

“ Why, was that all the money you had, child ?” 

“All I had in that pocket-book ! The two golden double 
eagles that dear old Captain Euljoy gave me, are in my 
new crimson purse, at the bottom of my trunk.” 

“ That is fortunate ! Now, here comes the hackman 
with our trunks,” she said, as that functionary approached. 

The luggage was put on, the order where to drive was 
given, they entered the carriage, and started. 

The gas lamps in all the streets and all the shop-windows 
were now lighted, and poor little rustic Ettie was half 
stupefied with amazement. As the carriage rolled over 
miles of illuminated, crowded, and noisy streets, Ettie felt 
dazzled by the splendor of the shop-windows, blinded by 
the glare of the gas lamps, deafened by the clatter of the 
omnibuses, confused by the throng of people, and generally 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 421 

overwhelmed by the wonders of the great city. Through 
miles and miles and miles of this street, and then into 
another, more illumined, more splendid, and more crowded 
than the first ! Ettie jumped from one side of the carriage 
to the other, never tired of gazing out. 

“ I declare, this city is like our great St. Mary’s forest, 
and the houses are as thick as the trees,” she exclaimed. 

Through miles and miles of this street, and fhen into a 
broad, quiet avenue, where there were no shops and no 
crowd, but where lofty palace dwellings lined each side. 


CHAPTER LII. 
ettie’s splendid grandmamma. 

Full-blown and rich in her maturity, 

The dwelling of a spirit not of earth, 

But ever mingling with the pure and high 

Conceptions of a soul that spreads its wings 

To fly where mind, when boldest, dares to soar. — J. G. Percival. 

The carriage drew up before one of the most imposing 
of these buildings — a large, double-fronted, four-storied, 
brown mansion, with wrought-iron balconies, plate-glass 
windows, marble steps, and all the external evidences of 
wealth, taste, and munificence. Lights gleamed through 
the nearly closed shutters of the windows, showing life, 
warmth, and brilliancy within. 

While Ettie gazed in stupefaction upon this magnificent 
dwelling, Miss Pinchett said : 

“ Here we are, my dear, at your grandmother’s house ; 
take up your little dog, and let’s get out.” 

“ That 1” exclaimed Ettie, with mouth and eyes wide 
open with astonishment. “ Why, that is not my grand- 
mother’s house! My grandmother lives in ever such a 
pretty white cottage, with a flower garden all around it ! 
not in a grand palace like this !” 


422 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Who told you so, my dear ?” inquired Miss Pinchett, as 
the driver opened the door and let down the steps. 

“Why, nobody told me; I thought so of my own self,” 
said Ettie. 

“ Then you were mistaken, my dear; your grandmother 
lives here,” replied Miss Pinchett, as she alighted and as- 
sisted Ettie to get out. 

The driver had already gone up to the door, and knocked 
and rung. 

Ettie and Miss Pinchett went up the steps, and by the 
time they had reached the top, the door was opened by a 
black footman in livery. 

“ Tell your mistress that I have brought her grand- 
daughter home,” said Miss Pinchett to the footman. 

“ Yes, mum — cert’ney, mum — please to walk in here, 
mum,” replied the man, with a .bow at the end of every 
phrase, as he led the travelers through the fine entrance 
hall to an elegant little reception parlor, whose floor was 
covered with a blue and white velvet carpet, so rich that 
Ettie hesitated to step on it ; and whose window curtains, 
and chair and sofa covers were all of pale blue and silver 
satin damask. A chandelier of silver and crystal hung from 
the ceiling and illumined the room. Ettie took out a clean 
pocket handkerchief, and laid it very carefully over one of 
the small reception chairs before she ventured to sit down 
on a thing so elegant. 

As soon as the servant had disappeared, Ettie, sitting 
upon the very edge of the chair, whispered, in awed tones : 

“ What does the black man wear such fine soldier’s clothes 
for, Miss Pinchett ?” 

“ It is not soldier’s clothes ; it is livery, my dear.” 

“ And what is livery, Miss Pinchett ?” 

“ A particular sort of a servile uniform, worn by the ser- 
vants of individual families, to distinguish them from the 
servants of other wealthy families.” 

“ Oh! — but how very light the house is ! as light as day, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 423 

and a great deal lighter than some days ! It really makes 
my eyes ache ! What a deal of oil it must take, not only 
to light this house I mean, hut to light the great streets we 
passed through ! Why I should think it would take all the 
oil of all the whales in all the oceans in the world to feed 
them !” said Ettie, gazing open-mouthed about her. 

“ It is not oil, it is gas, my dear.” 

“And what is gas ?” 

“Well, I hardly know myself; except that it is a subtle, 
invisible agent made from coal, and much used by the 
people of the cities to light up their streets and houses, 
and also by politicians in their stump-speeches to dazzle the 
intellects of the voters.” 

As Miss Pinchett got through the luminous description of 
a luminous subject, the footman re-entered the parlor, and 
with three bows, said : 

“ If you please, mum, you and the young lady, mum, is 
to walk up-stairs to de dressing-room, mum.” 

“You must show us the way, then,” said Miss Pinchett. 

“ Cert’ney, mum, cert’ney,” replied the footman, with 
two bows. 

Ettie and Miss Pinchett arose and followed their conduc- 
tor through the spacious hall, up the broad staircase, and 
into a lofty front room on the first floor, the splendor of 
which so blinded the eyes of Ettie that she could make out 
nothing but a glow of rose-colored satin damask chair and 
sofa covers, and window curtains, a^leam of lofty mirrors, 
a drift of lace draped dressing table, and a dazzle of gas- 
light over all. 

At last, through the splendid confusion, advanced a 
stately and beautiful woman, whose elegant mourning 
dress of black moire-antique, trimmed with crape, only ren- 
dered her blonde beauty more radiant by its contrast. Her 
plump neck and arms were bare, and adorned by a necklace 
and bracelets of jet that set ofi* to the best advantage the 
snowy whiteness of both. Her fair and classic face was 


424 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


flushed with a delicate bloom. Her graceful head had no 
other ornament than its own rich golden auburn braids and 
ringlets. There was a shade of deep sadness upon this 
stately lady’s face, yet through it all she smiled as she ad- 
vanced toward the travellers, and giving the precedence 
first to age, olfered her hand to Miss Pinchett, saying : 

“ I am very glad to see you, ma’am, and thank you very 
much for bringing Miss Burns so safely to us. Please take 
a seat.” 

Miss Pinchett bowed, and said : 

“ Not at all ! It was quite a pleasure,” and sat down 
upon one of the rose-colored sofas. 

Then the lady turned to Ettie, and drew her to her own 
bosom in a warm embrace, saying : 

“You are welcome, most welcome, to my heart, my own 
dear Esther. Come and sit by me, and let me look at you, 
my child !” 

And she led Ettie to another sofa, immediately under a 
gas-light, and making her sit quite close to herself, threw 
her arm around her, and, to Ettie ’s infinite confusion, 
looked steadily in her face, saying, as she perused each 
feature of that blushing countenance : 

“Yes, you are like your mother! You have the same 
Celtic style of features, the same glittering jet black hair, 
the same burning black eyes, and the same glowing crimson 
cheeks and lips ! Yes, you are like your mother, and she 
was as like her father as a girl could be to a man. How old 
are you, my darling ?” 

“I shall be sixteen on the first of August,” said Ettie, 
trembling. 

“A summer-child ; just what your mother was at your 
age ! I could almost imagine it was my own Esther sitting 

by me ! You are just at the age she was when oh, 

Esther! Esther! Esther!” cried the lady, suddenly over- 
whelmed by what seemed a paroxysm of remorseful love ! 

Ettie began to cry, partly from nervousness, partly from 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


425 


fright, and partly from sympathy. And she had no pocket 
handkerchief to wipe away her tears, having left hers 
spread over the bottom of the elegant chair upon which 
she had sat in the parlor. So Ettie rubbed her fists into 
her eyes instead. 

“There, do not weep, my dear,” said the lady, taking 
down the little hands. “ All this is long past, and cannot 
now be mended. Think of something else, my love ! Tell 
me about your journey. Was it very disagreeable ?” 

“ Oh, no, ma’am, it was beautiful ! I was delighted all 
the way ; first with the lovely steamboat, and then with the 
grand train, and now with this magnificent city.” 

“You are an enthusiast, my dear Ettie! ah, yes, like 
your mother and her father. But you look tired, child. I 
will ring for cook to send up your tea here, and then you 
shall go to your room.” And the lady arose and rang the 
bell. 

“ If you please, ma’am,” said Ettie, and then she stopped 
and blushed. 

“What, Esther? Speak, dear! What is it?” 

“ If you please, ma’am, then I should like to see my 
grandmother first.” 

“ Your what did yon say, my dear Ettie ?” 

“I said, if you please, ma’am, I should like to see my 
grandmother first. That is, if she has not gone to bed ; 
because I know she expects me to-night ; but if she is gone 
to bed, I would not disturb her for the whole world.” 

“ Your grandmother, did you say, my dear ?” 

“Yes ma’am, please.” 

“ Why, Ettie, is it possible that you do not know that 1 
am your grandmother?” inquired the lady, in astonish- 
ment. 

“ You my grandmother!” said Ettie, half angry at what 
she took to be an ill-timed jest. “ Oh, no, ma’am, I know 
better than that , too, if I was brought up in the woods ! 
You could not possibly be my grandmother !” 


426 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“Why, Ettie, Why not?” asked the lady, amused at the 
perfect sincerity of Ettie ’s manner. 

“ Because, ma’am, you are a beautiful young lady,” said 
Ettie, glancing at the blooming face and sunny curls, plump 
white neck and graceful arms of her hostess — “ and my own 
nice, dear, good grandmother is quite an old lady, with 
hair as white as cotton, and she wears an old-fashioned 
black bombazine gown, with a white muslin inside handker- 
chief, and a large black silk apron and black lace mitts, and 
a nice white cap tied close under her chin, and also specta- 
cles.” 

“ But, my dear, who gave you this minute description of 
your grandmother?” inquired the lady, highly amused. 

“ Nobody at all, ma’am ; but I had seen a great many 
grandmothers in our neighborhood, if I never had one be- 
fore, and so you see allowing for the difference between 
country and town, it was very easy for me to figure out 
what my own dear, old grandmother would look like, and 
I am quite sure I should know her among a thousand !” 

The lady for a moment forgot the grief that lay heavy 
at. the bottom of her heart, and laughed a low, silvery 
little laugh, as she said : 

“ That grandmother that you have described is the crea- 
tion of your own fancy only — a fictitious grandmother ; I 
am the real one ! Can you not believe it ?” 

“ No, ma’am,” replied Ettie, stoutly, “because, as I said 
before, you are a beautiful young lady, in a splendid even- 
ing dress, with low neck and bare arms. And my grand- 
mother is a very old lady, in a black gown, white cap, and 
spectacles.” 

“ My love, what was her name ?” laughed the lady. 

“Mrs. Gertrude Courtney Greville.” 

“ That is my name, my child.” 

“Ma’am,” said Ettie, with rising wrath — “If I am a 
simple country girl, I know one thing ; I know it is neither 
kind nor lady-like to try to hoax a poor orphan who is 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


427 


longing for her grandmother, by telling 4 her such stories ! 
But you cannot humbug me in that way. I am not to be 
sold at that price. And so far from being m^ grandmother, 
you can not even be my maiden aunt. 

“ Your maiden aunt ! ! By the way, I will introduce you 
to your maiden aunt ! — Celeste !” said the lady, laughing, 
and addressing her French maid, who was busy in another 
part of the room. “ Go and say to Miss Howard that I 
wish to see her here.” 

“Oui, Madame ,” answered the girl, leaving the room for 
the purpose. 

The lady sat smiling upon Ettie, who remained in offended 
silence until the door opened and a lovely girl, in deep 
mourning, with a tall, slender, and graceful form, regular 
features, snowy forehead, rosy cheeks and lips, clear blue 
eyes, and pale golden ringlets, and with a countenance of 
the freshest youthfulness, entered the room and advanced 
smiling toward her mamma. 

“ Lois, my love, this is your niece, Esther. Ettie, my 
dear, embrace your maiden aunt 1” 

Ettie looked up at this fresh and blooming girl, and then 
at the beautiful and stately woman. Mother and daughter 
were the rose and the rose-bud, with the morning dew still 
sparkling on them. 

But they were not what Ettie had expected to find, and 
so she bowed very sullenly and went off in dudgeon to Miss 
Pinchett and said : 

“ Pinchy, take me to my grandmother and auntie, or else 
take me back home again ! I won’t stay here for that big 
wax doll to make fun of me !” 

“ My dear, bless your heart, that lady is your grand- 
mother ; she is younger than you expected to find her — 
perhaps she is not over forty-eight, or fifty — and she has 
taken care of herself and uses all the arts of the toilet to 
improve her beauty ; that is all ; now come right back with 
me and behave yourself,” whispered Miss Pinchett, rising 
to lead Ettie up to her relatives. 


428 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Pinchy, I know you would not deceive me ! Is she, 
though, really now?” inquired Ettie. 

“ Yes, my dear, on my word,” said Miss Pinchett, as they 
crossed the room. 

When they stood before Mrs. Greville and Lois, Miss 
Pinchett said: 

“ I hope you will forgive poor Ettie, Madam, she is 
country-bred, and failed at first to recognize in you the 
relative she expected to find.” 

“ Oh, I will forgive her, for the implied compliment she 
has paid me in so sincerely doubting that I could possibly 
be her grandmother !” said Mrs. Greville, smiling and draw- 
ing the blushing girl to her bosom. 

“ And now, Ettie dear, as you favored me with a de- 
scription of the grandmamma you expected to meet, let 
Lois hear what sort of an aunt you pictured to yourself?” 

But Ettie stood embarrassed and blushing, until Lois sud- 
denly seized and kissed her, and said : 

“ Mamma ! this child ought to have her supper and be 
put to bed.” 

“ Yes, certainly ; I rang once, but you see no one has 
appeared. Ring again.” 

Lois did so, and this time the summons was answered 
and the necessary orders given. And in a very few min- 
utes a nice little supper for two was served in Mrs. Gre- 
ville’s dressing-room. 

Ettie and Miss Pinchett sat down and did ample justice 
to the delicacies spread before them. 

After this the service was removed, and Celeste directed 
to show Ettie and her attendant to their chamber. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


429 


CHAPTER LIII. 

MRS. GREVILLE’S GRIEF. 

All things that we ordained festival, 

Turn from their office to black funeral ; 

Our instruments to melancholy bells ; 

Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast ; 

Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change ; 

Our bridal flowers might serve a buried corpse, 

And all things change them to the contrary. — Shakespeare. 

When Mrs. Greville had kissed and dismissed Ettie, she 
beckoned Lois to her side and said : 

“ My dear, just go after that girl ; and when you get to 
her chamber, send Celeste back to me ; and then make an 
excuse to help Ettie to unpack her trunk ; and do you no- 
tice what she has got, and what she has need of; and then 
come and tell me.” 

Lois flew out and overtook the party on the stairs, and 
accompanied them to the door of an upper chamber, imme- 
diately above the dressing-room of Mrs. Greville. 

Here she dismissed Celeste, and introduced Ettie into a 
spacious apartment, elegantly fitted up, the wall paper, 
carpet, curtains and chair-covers of which were all of the 
most delicate pea-green and white. 

“ Mamma had this room fitted up expressly for you, dear ; 
how do you like it ?” said Lois. 

“Oh, it is splendid!” cried Ettie, with a burst of en- 
thusiasm. 

“ There is nothing splendid about it, dear ; it is simply 
what I should call a neat room for a young girl.” 

“ Oh, my goodness ! our rooms at Burnstop were as neat 
as ever they could be, but they were not like this, were they, 
Pinchy ? Why, here every thing is silk, and lace, and vel- 
vet ; and all corresponding, even down to the basin and 
ewer — every thing is green and white!” 


430 THE FORTU tf'E SEEKER. 

“ Well, dear, isn’t it as easy, while one is fitting up a 
room, to have the furniture to correspond as not ?” 

“I suppose every thing is easy to my splendid grand- 
mother. But where is Pinchy’s trunk ? There’s mine ; but 
I don’t see Pinchy’s.” 

“ Here, dear,” said Lois, opening a door leading into a 
small adjoining bedroom, neatly but plainly furnished ; 
“ here is Miss Pinchett’s room, and her trunk is in it. If 
you both please, you can always leave the intervening door 
open, so that you may talk all night if you like.” 

“ Then, if you please, ma’am, I will retire at once,” said 
Miss Pinchett, thinking, perhaps, that the two young girls 
might like to be left together for a while. And after kiss- 
ing Ettie, and taking up the cat and dog, she marched into 
the little room and shut the door behind her. 

“Is she angry?” inquired Lois. 

“ Oh, no — Pinchy is never angry ; she is only going to 
say her prayers. I dare say she will open the door before 
she goes to bed,” replied Ettie. 

“And now, dear,” said Lois, “ I will help you to unpack 
your trunk.” 

Ettie, with great pride, unlocked her trunk, and dis- 
played her mourning outfit — every thing bran new, and of 
the best materials to be procured at Comport ; and all her 
underclothing in dozens, and got up in the best style by 
Aunt Prissy, the laundress at Burnstop. 

“See,” said Ettie, confidentially turning her treasures 
over, “ how nice every thing is ! The black is as black as 
ink, and the white as white as snow I It is true, I haven’t 
got any thing as shiny and watery like my splendid grand- 
mother’s dress; but then they don’t have ’em down our 
way.” 

“ Ho, I suppose not,” said Lois, with half a shrug; add- 
ing, “ my dear, I think you had better not take out any 
thing more than just what you want to-night.” 

And when Ettie had done so, Lois led her up to the 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


431 


easy chair in front of the dressing table, and made her sit 
down in it, and then kissed her and bade her good-night, 
saying : 

“ My apartments are on the right side of the hall as you 
go down-stairs. If you should feel lonesome, or fright- 
ened, or ill, send your Pinchy to my door, and I will come 
to you.” 

As soon as Lois was gone, Ettie began to amuse herself 
with the novelties around her. There were two gas burners 
each side of the dressing glass ; Ettie had seen Lois turn 
them and lower the light. Ettie now turned them on full, 
and gazed at herself in the tall mirror until she was tired. 
Then she rambled all over the room, examining every article 
in it. Finally, she went to Miss Pinchett’s door, and 
inquired : 

“ Pinchy, are you gone to bed ?” 

“ Going,” was the drowsy answer. 

“Well, give me my little dog.” 

The dog was handed out, and Ettie undressed herself, 
blew out the gas , and went to bed ! 

Meanwhile, Lois returned to Mrs. Greville’s dressing- 
room. 

“Well, my dear, has the poor child a proper outfit ?” 

Lois shrugged her shoulders, as she answered : 

“ Mamma, just fancy that she has nothing !” 

“ ' Nothing !’ ” echoed Mrs. Greville. 

“Nothing whatever.” 

“And yet that was a heavy trunk that went up-stairs, if 
I may judge from the many times I heard the man set it 
down and breathe.” 

“ Oh, yes ! a regular sea-chest, mamma. And packed full 
of such a lot of rubbish ! coarse alpaca, and coarser de-laine 
dresses — made in such a style ! and cotton under-clothing 

and night dresses, and In short, mamma, though the 

poor child is as vain of her wardrobe as if it were the outfit 
of a princess, there is not an article in her possession fit 


432 THE FORTU N*E SEEKER. 

for her to wear ! And so you may just make up your mind 
to send her to Blank’s to-morrow, and order her a complete 
wardrobe from the crown of her head to the sole of her 
foot ! And for the contents of the sea-chest, we can send 
them to St. Martha’s Orphan Asylum, where the uniform 
of the children is black and white. And now, mamma, 
good-night.” And Lois tripped up-stairs to her chamber, 
and, feeling very tired, soon undressed and went to bed. 
She had fallen comfortably asleep when she heard a loud 
knocking at her door, and the voice of Ettie ciying : 

“ Maiden aunt ! maiden aunt ! maiden aunt ! come here !” 

“ What is the matter, Ettie ?” said Lois, springing out of 
bed, and going to the door. 

“Oh! maiden aunt ! something dreadful ails my lamps ! 
They keep such a hissing, and blowing, and roaring that I 
can’t sleep for them ! And they smell so awful they nearly 
smother me ; and even my little dog has nearly sneezed his 
poor little nose off!” 

Before Ettie had finished her speech, Lois had thrown on 
a dressing-gown and come out. 

“Oh! Ettie, the gas is escaping enough to kill you ! Did 
you turn it off ?” 

“No, I blowed it out, all right ! I had sense enough to 
do that much, if I was born in the woods.” 

“ You blowed it out !” cried Lois, in dismay, hurrying to 
the burners, and turning the gas off, and then hoisting the 
windows to clear the room. “You blowed it out ! You 
unlucky imp ! it’s a miracle it hadn’t blown you up ! Don’t 
you know, Ettie, that if anybody blows the gas out, the gas 
returns the compliment by blowing them up ! Now, never 
venture to do that again.” 

“Maiden aunt, I’ll never touch the unchancy things 
again as long as ever I live ! there !” 

“ I think you are right, Ettie. You had better let your 
Pinchy attend to them in future. There, now — your room 
is clear again, and I will bid you good-night,” as she closed 
the windows and left the room. 


THE FORTUNE S E E K E R . 433 

Ettie returned to bed, and in ten minutes was fast asleep. 

Late in the morning, Ettie arose and dressed herself with 
much care in the very best dress she possessed ; and not- 
withstanding the contempt of Lois, Ettie looked very neat 
and pretty in her plain black alpaca, with her white linen 
collar and cuffs. At least she thought so, as she surveyed 
herself in the tall dressing glass. Then leaving Miss Pin- 
chett at her morning prayers, Ettie hurried out and rapped 
at Lois’ door, exclaiming : 

“ Maiden aunt ! maiden aunt! I am ready to go down 
to breakfast when you are !” 

“ Come in, you troublesome elf! I am likely to have a 
nice, quiet time with you !” said Lois, laughingly, from 
within. 

Ettie entered, and found Lois, in an elegant white morn- 
ing dress, trimmed with black, sitting before her toilet 
table. Her maid stood behind her, giving the last twirl to 
a sunny ringlet. Lois rose smilingly to meet Ettie, and 
then conducted her down-stairs. In the breakfast parlor, 
they found Mrs. Greville and a handsome young man, 
whom the former presented to Ettie as her uncle, Welby 
Dunbar. 

Ettie had never heard of this uncle before, yet his face 
seemed so familiar that she could scarcely take her eyes 
from it. Ettie had never had but one imperfect look at 
Colonel Greville, but it was the strong resemblance between 
the two men that perplexed her now. 

During breakfast, Mrs. Greville seemed overshadowed 
with a deep gloom, that spread its contagion throughout 
the circle. Scarcely a word was spoken beyond those de- 
manded by the courtesies of the table. After breakfast, 
Mrs. Greville arose, saying : 

“ Lois, my love, take Ettie out this morning, and get her 
whatever she requires,” left the breakfast parlor, and re- 
tired to her private apartments. 

“Lois, dearest,” said Welby Dunbar, coming to her side, 

21 


434 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ I had hoped that the arrival of this young lady would 
have aroused your dear mother from brooding over this 
affair.” 

“ It did for a little while. She was quite cheerful last 
evening, even gay ; but you see she has relapsed ! Will 
you drive out with us ? Shall we set you down at your 
office door ?” 

“ If you please, dearest.” 

Lois rang the bell, and ordered the carriage to be at the 
door in half an hour, and then took Ettie up-stairs to get 
ready for the shopping expedition. 

They were soon in the carriage and driving toward the 
city. They set Mr. Dunbar down at his office door, and 
then turned into Broadway. And if Ettie was astonished 
at the great city by gas-light, she was no less so when 
viewing its splendors under the blaze of the noonday sun. 

Lois stopped at one of the gayest bazaars in the city. 
They entered and passed in turn through all the various 
departments, Lois selecting in each all that she deemed 
necessary for Ettie, and then directing that the articles 
should be sent home the same morning. 

“ Maiden aunt, I do believe you have not laid out less 
than fifty dollars on me this morning,” said Ettie, as they 
returned to the carriage. 

Lois smiled ; the bill she had just paid was nearly ten 
times that amount, and she thought it very moderate. 

“And now, Ettie, I have got every thing for you that 1 
can think of. Is there any thing else that you would fancy, 
my dear, before we go home ?” 

“ Maiden aunt, I should like a dressing case, and a work 
box, and a writing-desk, so as to keep all my things sep- 
arate and in order. I never had either of them, though I 
have been longing for them all my life ; but if you think 
I do not really want them, why, you need not get them.” 

“Not want them ! Why, I do not see how you have 
been able to do without them ! They are among the neces- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


435 


saries of life !” answered Lois, as she gave the order to 
drive to a certain establishment where such articles were 
exhibited for sale. 

When they entered the show room, Ettie was bewildered 
by the beautiful and costly objects around her ; but Lois 
had article after article taken down without being able to 
satisfy her own fastidious taste. There were boxes and 
desks of rosewood, satin-wood, ivory, mother-of-pearl, tor- 
toise-shell, malachite, papier-mach£, etc., etc., etc. 

“ Ettie, I cannot make a choice ! choose yourself among 
them,” said Lois. 

“What’s the price ?” asked the practical country girl. 

“Various prices, you observe, Miss — from ten dollars up 
to an hundred, and we have some even much higher,” said 
the shopman. 

“ Oh, maiden aunt ! the cheapest of these are too dear ! 
I don’t want any thing like these ; but something plain ! 
quite plain I” said Ettie. 

“ Put up that satin-wood dressing case, that papier- 
mache writing-desk, and that malachite work box,” said 
Lois to the shopman, as she selected three of the most 
expensive articles on the counter. Ettie watched her in 
dismay. 

“ They are all completely furnished, Ettie ! having every 
thing that you could possibly desire in the dressing, work- 
ing, or writing department,” said Lois, as they re-entered 
the carriage, and gave the order, “ home.” 

“ Maiden aunt, it is really awful to see how you spend 
money I If you go on at this rate, you will fetch up at the 
poor-house yet,” said Ettie, solemnly. 

Lois’ silvery laughter was the only reply to the friendly 
warning. 

They were soon at home, where they found luncheon 
spread in the dining-room. 

Mrs. Greville joined them at the table ; but she looked 
more despairing than ever. Lois tried, by telling of Ettie ’s 


436 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

prudent economy, to raise her spirits, but Mrs. Greville 
only answered by a grave rebuke, and the meal was finished 
in silence, after which, as before, Mrs. Greville rose and re- 
tired to her private apartments. 

Lois took Ettie up-stairs to examine the things that had 
been sent home. 

As soon as they were alone in Ettie ’s chamber, the latter 
said : 

“ Maiden aunt, what is the matter with my splendid 
grandmother ; she looks very dull to-day ? Is she mad 
with me for blowing the gas out ?” 

“ No, you little goose ! No, Ettie ; but about two weeks 
ago, a great blow fell upon poor mamma ; it nearly crushed 
her ; when it came she fell to the floor in a dead swoon ; I 
never knew her to swoon before, not even at the death of 
her nearest and dearest. And ever since that blow fell, 
she has looked just as you see her now.” 

“ She seemed cheerful last night.” 

“ For the first time since the news came ; it was not a 
healthy cheerfulness ; only the excitement of your arrival ; 
that was all ; this morning she was as low as ever.” 

“ I wish I could arrive every day, then. But maiden 
aunt, what was the blow that fell upon her ?” 

“ My dear, it was the sudden death of her only brother, 
to whom she had been once fondly attached, but with whom 
she had quarrelled many years ago.; and from whom she 
has held herself aloof ever since ! Poor mamma thinks 
now that she was wrong from the beginning, and very 
wrong of late, in rejecting his repeated overtures for a 
reconciliation.” 

“ But why was she so implacable ?” 

“ She did not approve of the life he led, my dear.” 

“And what sort of a life was that ?” 

“ I do not know, Ettie ! But I do know that mamma 
suffers very much ! Oh ! it is dreadful ! dreadful 1 to hear 
of the death of a dear brother, to whose earnest en- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 437 

treaties for reconciliation we have returned only disdainful 
answers !” 

“ Poor, splendid grandmother !” 

“ And now, Ettie, I have something to tell you ! Do you 
know that this death has made it necessary for us all to 
take a long journey ? We should have started before this, 
had we not waited for your arrival. I suppose we shall 
go now in a very few days.” 

“Another journey ! Oh !” exclaimed Ettie, and in despite 
the gravity of the occasion, she was delighted. 


CHAPTER LIT. 

IN THE CHAMBER OP DOOM. 

Her eyes unmoved, but full and wide, 

Not once had glanced to either side — 

Not once did those sweet eyelids close. 

Or shade the glance o’er which they rose; 

But round their orbs of deepest blue 
The circling white, dilated grew — 

And there with stony gaze she stood, 

As ice were in her curdled blood. — Byron. 

We left Astrea, standing like a destroying angel over the 
prostrate form of Rumford. 

Venus, from her lair under the bed, had witnessed, with- 
out fully comprehending, all that passed. She now 
emerged from her place of concealment, inquiring with a 
scared look : 

“Hi, honey, what you hit him with? — Not de poker, 
’cause dere it stan’s ; you must a hit him wid somefin dough ! 
You’s done for him, any ways, an’ sarve him right— ole 
scamp! I’s sorry for him too! poor forsook ole sinner, 
gone ’traight to de debil widout a minute to pent of his 
sins ! No help for it dough ! It was de onliest way to 
save yourself! Xt get you into heap o tiouble, X s fiaid 


438 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

dough, chile ! Dey have you up to court, sure’s ever you’re 
born ! But you aint tell me yet, what you hit him wid ? — 
Oh ! laws a messy on top o’ my poor ole black soul !” she 
suddenly broke off and exclaimed, as she happened to look 
up from the prostrate body of Rumford to the avenging 
form of Astrea. There she yet stood in the same attitude 
in which she had pronounced the doom of Rumford — her 
form dilated and elevated, her head thrown back, her hair 
streaming behind, her arm raised on high, her terrible eyes 
fixed upon her fallen victim — there she stood, an awful and 
majestic presence, but turned to a lifeless statue ! 

“ My goodness gracious me alive ! What de matter wid 
her ? Honey ! chile ! Zora, I say ! Miss Zora ! Miss As- 
trea, I mean ! Mrs. Full Grebille, den ! Speak to me, 
honey. Answer me ! It’s I, Wenus ! your frien’ Wenus, 
chile ! What de matter wid you ?” cried the woman, 
going slowly round and round Astrea, but not daring to 
approach too near, much less to touch her. 

“ Oh, Lor ! she’s turned to a dead corpe ! She’s turned 
to a standin’ up dead corpe !” said Yenus, finding that she 
could make no impression whatever upon this statue. And 
opening her throat in a succession of ear-splitting shrieks, 
she ran through the house, ringing all the bells, and finally 
sounding the alarm-bell in the hall. 

This clangor was in a short time answered by the rush 
of all the negroes within hearing to the house. They came, 
some thumping at the front door and some thundering at 
the back one for admittance. 

Yenus ran distractedly from one door to the other, in her 
utter confusion of ideas for some time defeating her own 
object, and drawing more bolts instead of undrawing any ; 
at last, however, she succeeded in opening the doors and 
admitting the clamoring crowd. 

She now saw that it was daybreak and that the negroes 
were all in their working clothes, and had probably been on 
their way to the fields when summoned by the alarm-bell. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


439 


“ What de row ?” 

“ Is ole marse took ill ?” 

“ De house a fire?” 

“ What de debil de matter ?” 

“Can’t you speak, Wenus ?” 

These were some of the questions put by the excited 
crowd as they gathered around the affrighted woman. 

“ Be silent all of you ! Order there 1” said the voice of 
the overseer, who was now seen advancing through the 
throng — “ What is the matter here ? What has happened ?” 

“ Wenus know !” 

“ She in de house !” 

“She rung de ’larm!” were the answers given by the 
crowd. 

“What is it, woman?” inquired the overseer, standing 
before Yenus. 

“ Oh, oh, dear ! Oh, Marse Steppins ! Oh, sir !” 

“ Speak, you fool ! Is your master ill ? Or Zora run 
away again, or what is the matter?” 

“ Oh, dear ! Oh, sir !” 

“ Will you speak ?” 

“ Yes, sir ; I gwine ; ’deed I is !” said Yenus, wringing 
her hands in agony. 

“I’ll be blasted if you don’t answer me in one instant, 
if I don’t ” 

“ Oh, sir ! yes, sir ! Oh, sir ! Zora done kill ole marse 
an’ turned to a dead corpe herself!” 

“ Zora killed Mr. Rumford !” echoed the overseer in 
horror, while the negroes stood around, dumb with conster- 
nation. 

“ And turned to a dead corpe herself, sir ! a standin’ up 
dead corpe hor rowful to behold !” 

For an instant the overseer stood gazing at the speaker 
in a state of petrifaction, and then recovering himself, with 
a start, he said : 

“ Where are they ?” 


440 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Here, sir, here ! Oh, please to come in with me ; I’se 
’fraid o’ my life to go in dere by myself,” said Yenus. 

Steppins needed no further invitation. He hurried 
toward the fatal chamber, saying to the crowd of negroes 
that were pressing behind him : 

“ Back, back, all of you ! except those that I call. Ye- 
nus, Cybele, Saturn, Sam — come with me !” 

And Steppins, followed by the four negroes he had named, 
entered the chamber. 

As soon as the eyes of the overseer fell upon the group 
we have described — the awful form of Astrea standing over 
the prostrate body of Rumford — he paused in breathless 
dismay. But. when some of the boldest among the party 
would have laid hands upon them, he suddenly exclaimed : 

“ Stop ! I daren’t touch ’em, nor allow ’em to be touched ! 
Sam, saddle Saladin, and ride fast as ever you can and 
fetch Dr. Herkimer ! He’s a physician and a magistrate, 
besides being your master’s nearest neighbor and most in- 
timate friend. He is altogether the most properest person 
to send for.” 

Steppins had scarcely finished speaking before Sam 
started on his errand. 

The messenger was excited, the horse was fleet, the dis- 
tance short, and the occasion imminent. 

In less than half an hour, Dr. Herkimer arrived, and was 
shown at once into the chamber of death. 

First of all, on entering, his eyes encountered the rigid- 
form of Astrea. 

“ That girl is cataleptic — not dead. Lay her on the bed, 
some of you !” 

Yenus and Cybele darted eagerly forward to obey this 
order. 

They laid their hands upon the stony form of Astrea. 
And at their touch, as if it had dissolved the spell that 
bound her, her form relaxed, and she sank into their arms, 
limber, feeble, and pliable as the meekest child ! As they 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


441 


laid her on the bed, her eyes softened from their stony stare, 
and closed. 

“ She’s not a dead corpe after all,” said Venus to herself; 
“ an’ it’s all de worse for her, poor dear chile, for now de 
law will hold of her for a-killin’ of ole marse, dough she did 
it in self- ’fence, and he richly ’sarved it ! I could bite my 
’fernally tongue off for tellin’ on her ! But den I thought 
she dead herself, and I so scared I had no wits about me ! 
Never mind, dough ; long as she’s ’live, and has to answer 
for dis, I know what I do ! I’s de onliest one as saw her 
do it! I’s de onliest witness ’gainst her! And I jes’ up 
and ’ny ebery t’ing ! and eben eat my own words ! ’Deed 
will 1 1” 

Venus soon had an opportunity of putting her resolu- 
tions in practice. 

Dr. Herkimer knelt down beside the fallen form of Rum- 
ford, felt his pulse, and examined his face. 

“ This is an attack of apoplexy ! Lend a hand here, 
Sam, and you also, Saturn, and lift your master up, and 
take him to his own room !” 

Sam and Saturn obeyed, and Rumford was carried to his 
chamber, undressed, and put to bed, and freely bled, cupped, 
and blistered. The doctor, having done all that his medical 
experience could suggest for the relief of his patient, left 
him to be watched by Sam, and returned to the other room 
to look at the “ cataleptic girl,” as he called Astrea, and 
also to institute some inquiry into the immediate cause of 
Mr. Rumford’s attack. He found Astrea in the deep sleep 
that often succeeds an attack of catalepsy; and, after 
making a careful examination, pronounced her doing as well 
as could be hoped ; and then, consigning her to the care of 
old Cybele, called Venus to accompany him into the draw- 
ing-room, where the overseer and some of the principal ser- 
vants were lingering to see if they could be of any use. 

“ My good girl,” said the doctor, throwing himself into a 
chair, and beckoning Venus to approach and stand before 


442 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


him, “ I gather from the discourse of your fellow-servants 
that you were the only one of their number, with the excep- 
tion of the girl Zora, who passed the night in this house, 
and can give any information as to the origin of your mas- 
ter’s illness.” 

“ Yes, sir ! I dessay it was de oranges as made him ill ! 
Dere was lots of dem dere billious, yellow things for de des- 
sert,” said Yenus, with much animation, delighted that the 
doctor had, as she thought, found a satisfactory solution to 
the mystery. “ Yes,” she added ; “fac’is I know it must 
a’ been de oranges as made him ill 1” 

“ I am not talking of oranges, you blockhead ! I said 
origin ! I want to know the origin, that is, the cause of 
your master’s sudden attack !” 

“ Oh, dat it ! But, hi, marse doctor, how I know who 
’tacked him; nobody didn’t ’tack him as I knows of!” 

“You were in the room with the girl Zora last night, I 
believe ?” 

“ Yes, sir ; I has slept in Zora’s room long of her ebber 
since here she’s bin!” said Yenus, recklessly. 

“ Yery well. Now, then, it was in that room that your 
master was found in a fit, with Zora standing over him, 
quite incapable of giving any explanation! Now, then, 
what had happened to bring about this extraordinary state 
of affairs ? You must know, since you were there present 
all the time !” 

“Hi, marse doctor, how I gwine know, when I soun’ 
asleep all de time ? I ’sures you, marse doctor, when de 
sleep do come ober me, I can’t keep awake — no, not ef de 
house was a burnin’ up, an’ me in it !” said Yenus, earn- 
estly. 

“ Yet you must have heard something of this, else how 
came you to give the alarm ?” 

“ Oh, yes, marse doctor ! while I was soun’ asleep, I hear 
somefin heavy fall down — flump-bung-de-lung — and shake 
de whole house ! and den I look out, and dere lay ole marse, 
fallen down for dead ! Dere ! dat all I know about it !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 443 

“ But the girl Zora, who was standing over him in that 
threatening attitude ?” 

“ Oh, yes, marse doctor I you see Zora was sleepin’ in the 
arm-chair, same as me sleepin’ on de mattress. And when 
she hear dat flump-bung-de-lung fall down and shake de 
house, she jump up same time as I did ! Only, you see, she 
was struck all of a heap, and I had my senses about me, 
and so I rung de ’larm and brought all de people. And dat 
is all I knows about it !” 

“Why, then, did you say that Zora had killed your 
master ?” 

“ Hi, marse doctor, sir, who go tell you that false ? Who 
say I say it ?” inquired Yenus, with a look of righteous 
indignation. 

“All your fellow-servants.” 

“ Lor’, marse doctor, you needn’t b’lieve dem niggers ! 
Dey say ebery ting but deir prayers.” 

“ Then you didn’t tell this story upon Zora ?” 

“ Who, me ? How I gwine tell it when it wasn’t true ? 
I neber eben thought o’ such a thing, marse doctor, sir ! 
All dem niggers’ ’fernally falses !” 

“ Take care, Yenus, how you deny your own words, and 
slander your companions. Bemember it was to me you 
told this tale, in the presence of others !” said the overseer, 
joining in the conversation. 

“ Oh, Marse Steppins, sir, you neber was more ’stakin in 
your life, sir. ’Deed and ’deed, and ’deed, and ’deed, I 
neber said nothin’ like it, sir !” persisted Yenus, with an 
astonished look and an emphatic earnestness that made the 
overseer doubt the evidence of his own senses of memory. 

“ The fact is, I suppose, the poor creature was so fright- 
ened that she did not know what she said,” suggested the 
doctor. 

“ That’s it ! She did look as wild as a witch,” admitted 
the overseer. 

“ Then she is not to be held responsible for them, I sup- 


444 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


pose. She is certainly honest in making the declaration 
she does now. And really I think she is not very capable 
of giving any more lucid account of the affair than she has 
already given. You may retire, my girl,” said the doctor ; 
and as soon as Yenus had gone, he added : 

“The cause of Mr. Rumford’s attack is easy enough 
understood. That late dinner! He has been for years 
predisposed to apoplexy. And I have warned him against 
late and heavy dinners and suppers ! but quite in vain, as 
you know, Steppins. I saw how it must end, and it has 
ended just as I expected !” 

“How is he, sir? Is there any hope ?” 

“ He breathes ! And while there is breath there is life, 
and while there is life there is hope ! Nevertheless, I say 
to you, Steppins, that if he has any near relations, they 
ought to be summoned immediately.” 

“I will go to the city and telegraph to them directly, 
sir.” 

“Also, Steppins, if he has not already settled up his 
worldly affairs, his solicitor ought to be sent for instantly, 
to remain at the house in the event of his being wanted ; 
for the patient may possibly have an interval of conscious- 
ness, in which he may be able to make his will.” 

“ Exactly, sir ! I will endeavor to bring Mr. Fulmer out 
with me.” 

“And Hast, but not least,’ a clergyman should be in con- 
stant attendance at his bedside, to watch for the opportu- 
nity, and offer him such religious aids as the parting soul 
of sinful man requires !” 

“Ah, sir, a death-bed offers but a short space to repent 
of a long lifetime’s sins 1” sighed the overseer. 

“And he has led a wild life, you will say ! true, but then 

he had a kind heart, and who dares to limit the mercy 

of the All-Merciful ? The repentant thief on the cross was 
pardoned.” 

“ Well, sir, I will fetch the minister, and hope for the 
best.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


445 


“And the quicker you set about the whole of this busi- 
ness you have undertaken to do, the better.” 

“ Exactly, sir ! Good day,” said the overseer, picking 
up his hat and retiring. 

When he reached the hall he found the gaping crowd of 
negroes still lingering there, and said : 

“ Boys, every one of you go to your work in the east 
field. Sam, do you put the horses to the brougham, and 
bring it around to the door immediately, and get ready 
yourself to drive me to the city.” 

The negroes all dispersed to obey these orders, while 
Steppins walked to his own cottage to put on his Sunday 
clothes. 


CHAPTER LY. 

THE OLD HOUSE CHANGES OWNERS. 


Nothing in his life, 

Became him like his leaving it. He died 
As one that had been studied in his death, 

To throw away the dearest thing he owned 
As ’twere a careless trifle. 

About the hour of eve, which he himself 
Foretold would be his last, full of repentance, 

Continual meditations, tears, and sorrows, 

He gave his riches to the world again, 

His blessed part to Heaven, and slept in peace. — Shakespeare. 


Meanwhile the doctor returned to watch beside his 
patient. 

It was a dreary and a hopeless watch, which lasted all 
through the forenoon, until the return of Steppins from the 
city, bringing with him Lawyer Fulmer and the Reverend 
Mr. Palmer. 

These gentlemen were met in the ball by Hr. Herkimer, 
and after a short interview, in which the doctor put them 
in possession of the facts of the case so far as they were 


446 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


known to liimself, they all went into the sick room, and 
took up their watch by the dying man. To the most inex- 
perienced observer it was evident he was sinking fast. 

They watched eagerly for some such sign of returning 
consciousness as the delirious or comatose patient often 
exhibits just before death. For some time they watched in 
vain — his pallid and sunken face, rolling head, wandering 
fingers, and inarticulate murmurs, gave but little hope that 
he would ever speak a word or recognize a face again. 

At length, however, when it was late in the evening, a 
change came over him. He opened his eyes, looked 
around, and knew the friends that stood about him. He 
was quite cognizant of his situation, for he beckoned feebly 
for the physician to stoop low, and whispered : 

“ Doctor , this is death /” 

“ Oh no, you are better,” said the physician, telling the 
usual benevolent story. 

A sad shake of the head was the only answer of the 
dying man, who with another feeble effort beckoned the 
other two gentlemen to draw near. When they had ap- 
proached quite close, he faltered forth : 

“ The girl Zora — must be free.” 

“ Had you not better dictate a will, sir ?” inquired the 
lawyer. 

A silent shake of the head was the only reply. 

“ There is no time,” whispered Dr. Herkimer to the law- 
yer, “ he has not half an hour’s life in him ! and what he 
has left, short as it is, should be devoted to prayer.” 

Not a word of this speech reached the patient’s ear ; yet 
the same thought was evidently passing in his own mind, 
for he looked wistfully in the face of the minister. 

Mr. Palmer stooped down to hear what he wished to 
speak. 

“ I have been a bad servant ! What will the Great Mas- 
ter say to me ?” 

The minister took his nearly pulseless hand, and spoke 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 447 

to him of the infinite mercy of the Father ; of the perfect 
atonement of the Son ; of the free grace offered to the 
greatest sinner who repents, even at the eleventh hour. 

Rumford, with all his faults, had never been harsh, im- 
placable, or unforgiving. This softness of heart, preserved 
even in the midst of a life of reckless vices, rendered him 
more impressible by religious truth, more receptive of 
divine grace, and more affected by the infinite love revealed 
in the atonement. Broken, subdued, helpless, dying, he 
was melted into tears. 

Seeing this, the minister knelt by his bed, and prayed 
earnestly to heaven for the repentance, pardon, and salva- 
tion of this sinner. The dying man clasped his hands and 
silently accompanied the minister in this prayer. And when 
at last Mr. Palmer arose from his knees and looked upon 
the patient, he saw that the soul had already passed, leaving 
the dead hands clasped in prayer for pardon, and the dead 
face still wet with the tears of penitence. 

“He is gone,” said the doctor, with his finger on the 
dead man’s pulse. 

“May peace be with him,” murmured the minister, as he 
gently closed the sightless eyes. 

“ You are witnesses, gentlemen, to his expressed will in 
regard to the girl Zora,” said the lawyer, as he left the 
chamber of death to give orders concerning the funeral. 
For in that hot climate short space is allowed between 
death and burial. 


m 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


CHAPTER LVI. 

THE LAST VISION. 

Bnt, soft : behold 1 lo, where it comes again ! 

Stay illusion ! 

If thou hast any sound, or use a voice, 

Speak to me ! — Shakespeare. 

That night, while the body of Rumford was lying in state 
in the front room, and Astrea was lying upon the bed in 
her own dark, still chamber, and sleeping that fitful sleep 
that precedes fever, she was for the third time the subject 
of a strange vision. As upon the two former occasions, 
her closed eyelids were penetrated by a cool, subtile flame 
that compelled her to open her eyes, when she saw standing 
within a halo of light the beautiful image of Lulu, with the 
dark blot eflaced from her shining robes, the restored star 
blazing in the centre of her crown, and her once mournful 
countenance now radiant with divine joy ! For an instant 
only she stood thus, and then smiling, faded in music away, 
singing as she vanished the refrain of some heavenly song, 
the burden of which was “ Saved ! All saved 1” 

And the next moment the room was in total silence, deep 
darkness, and perfect solitude again. And Astrea’s wild 
eyes were wide open, and gazing into the thick blackness 
whence the bright image had vanished. What was it ? A 
dream ? a vision ? a reality ? She could not tell ! She 
only felt that there were mysteries in spirit life, unfathoma- 
ble by human intellect. 

The next day, for the reasons already stated, the funeral 
of Rumford took place. It was a clear, bright summer’s 
morning, the weather was fine, the air fresh, and, more than 
that, the deceased planter had been very popular in the 
neighborhood, “ known for a good fellow all over the coun- 
try,” as he himself had said ; consequently his funeral was 
very largely attended. A long cortege of carriages followed 


-THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 449 

him to the cemetery, on the rising ground, a mile above the 
plantation house. 

Many of the guests returned to partake of the funeral 
dinner, at which the confidential solicitor of the deceased 
presided. Then, as there was no will to be found, they all 
dispersed to their various homes — all except Dr. Herkimer, 
who was stopped by old Cybele, who said : 

“ Marse doctor, sir, I wish how you’d come in an’ look 
at poor Zora ; she aint eat nor drank nor likewise spoke 
since she had that cattypussy fit as you talked about ; she 
jes’ lay dere half ’sleep an’ half ’wake, a-rollingof her head 
on de pillow, and a-mumblin’ somethin’ to herself, for all de 
worl’ as if she was a-conjuring or a-talkin’ to de sperits or 
de debil ! which indeed it do put such a scare on top o’ me, 
as I’m feared of my soul to stay in de room ’long of her !” 

While Cj^bele was speaking, she was leading the way to 
the back chamber, in which the doctor followed her. 

“ The girl has inflammation of the brain,” said the phy- 
sician, as he felt Astrea’s full and bounding pulse, and 
gazed upon her flushed face and heavy eyes. “ Her head 
must be shaved directly. Yon have a barber on the prem- 
ises, I presume ?” 

“ Oh, yes, Marse Doctor. Sam a good barber, he alius 
shave ole marse, and trim his hair, too, likewise de trees in 
de garden,” answered Cybele. 

“ Gro, then, and tell Sam what is wanted, and order him 
to prepare his razors and come here immediately.” 

Cybele departed, and while she was gone, the doctor 
took from his pocket the calomel pills that he always carried 
about him, and raising the head of the half conscious but 
docile sufferer, made her swallow two of them. 

Cybele soon re-entered the chamber, followed by Sam, 
bearing all the apparatus of hair-cutting and shaving. 

Astrea was lifted up in the arms of old Cybele, who sat 
behind her and supported her, while Sam cut off her hair, 
which fell — a rich and glossy black mass — upon the bed be- 
28 


450 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

fore the doctor’s eyes. Dr. Herkimer picked a portion of | 
it up, to examine it, as one does any beautiful object. Pre- 
sently he exclaimed : 

“ Why, how is this ? This girl’s hair is golden near the ! 
roots !” 

Sam stopped in his process of lathering, and old Cybele i 
also bent forward to look. The three heads were bent in 
curiosity over Astrea’s beautiful tresses. Yes, it was cer- 
tainly as the doctor had said. Every raven hair was tipped 
near the root with a spark of gold. This, of course, was 
the new growth coming out in its natural color. But they 
did not understand it. 

“ I should be inclined to think that her hair was origi- 
nally golden, but that she had dyed it ; only she is so much s 
too dark to have light hair. I cannot make it out at all ; 
it is quite a phenomenon !” the doctor exclaimed. And the j 
three pairs of eyes gazed upon the “ phenomenon,” until 
Dr. Herkimer said : 

“ Go on with your work, Sam ; what the mischief are you 
stopping for ?” 

Sam obeyed, and in a short time the stately little head 
was shaved as clean as the face, and looked so much whiter, 
as to draw the attention of the doctor, who put on his spec- 
tacles to scrutinize it, as he said : 

“ Well, the scalp, being protected by the hair, is always 
a little whiter than the face ! But here is so marked a dif- 
ference as to indicate something very abnormal, particu- 
larly when considered in connection with the golden roots 
of the hair. I cannot make it out at all ! 

Neither, of course, could any of his hearers. But had 
Yenus been present she might have given them the clue. 

Towels dipped in ice-water were now wrapped around the 
sufferer’s head, which was once more laid upon the pillow. 

Sam gathered up his barber’s tools and left the room, car- 
rying with him the rich, black hair, which he knew he could 
sell for a good price to the city barber with whom he 
dealt. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


451 


“ You are to old to be trusted to nurse this girl. You 
could not sit up at night to give her medicine regularly. 
You would fall asleep. Where is that woman that I saw 
about here yesterday?” said the doctor to Cybele. 

“ Lor, marse doctor, cleanin’ away de dinner-table an’ 
puttin’ de house to rights arter all dis bustle. A body 
wants de place to look a little decent ’gainst ole marser’s 
’lations come.” 

“ Well, you had better attend to that matter yourself, 
and send Yenus here to me.” 

The doctor was always promptly obeyed, and Yenus 
soon entered the room, dropping a courtesy, and saying : 

“ ’Deed, Marse doctor, sir, I thanks you berry much for 
sendin’ for me ; ’cause I’se been long o’ dat chile for a 
mont’ or more, an’ knows all her ways same as if I was her 
mammy ; an’ so you see I’s de most properest person for to 
nurse her.” 

“You know all her ways ?” 

“Yes, Marse doctor, sir.” 

“ Did she dye her hair ?” 

“ Lor, no, Marse doctor ! Why ?” 

“ It is coming out golden at the roots, that’s all !” - 

“ De Lors ! ” cried Yenus, suddenly recollecting 

what Astrea had told her concerning the mystery of her 
change of complexion ; but recollecting at the same time 
her own promise to be silent upon the subject until Astrea 
should give her leave to speak. 

“ You are sure she doesn’t dye her hair ?” 

“ Who — She ! No, indeed, Marse doctor, I’s sartin sure 
she doesn’t ! What call she to dye her bootful hair ? 
’Taint gray, nor likewise red ! So why dye ?” 

“Why, certainly? Well, I cannot comprehend it! — . 
But now, my good woman, I must give you some directions 
as to the treatment of your patient through the night,” 
said the doctor, and hereupon he gave her the most careful 
instructions, to which Yenus listened with the deepest at- 
tention. 


452 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“And now, my girl,” he said, as he took up his hat to go, 
“ I hope yon understand all that I have said to you ?” 

“ Ebery singly word, Marse doctor, sir ! — But please tell 
me, sir, when you think de new marser an’ missus be here ?” 
inquired Yenus, anxiously. 

“ If they start immediately and come by land, they may 
be here in eight or ten days. If they come b}^ water, the 
Ohio and Mississippi rivers are both so low that they may 
be three weeks on their way. And if they delay their de- 
parture there is no telling when they may arrive.” 

With this answer Yenus had to be satisfied ; for the doc- 
tor immediately left the house. 

Astrea’s illness was long and dangerous. For eight 
days she lay hovering between life and death — and alter- 
nating between delirium and stupor. The doctor came 
twice a day, and taxed his utmost skill to save her life. 
Yenus sat up with her every night ; and left her only for a 
few hours’ sleep during the day, when the watch was re- 
lieved by old Cybele. 

Yenus kept herself awake at night with strong green tea. 

On the evening of the eighth day the doctor, standing 
looking over the patient, said : 

“ This night will decide her fate ! She will either awaken 
in the full possession of her senses, or she will sink into 
the coma that precedes death 1” 

And having given the nurse instructions how to proceed 
in either event, he took his leave. 

Yenus sat down beside the bed where the awful struggle 
of life and death was silently going on. And during that 
fearful night-watch the faithful creature scarcely once re- 
moved her eyes from the sufferer’s face. 

Poor Yenus, through watching, and caring for, and sym- 
pathizing with Astrea, had come to love her best in all the 
world. And now she watched this terrible crisis with 
something like the intense anxiety that a mother feels for 
her sick child. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


453 


After midnight there was a change in the patient ; a cool 
and gentle perspiration came out upon her forehead. And 
the heart of Venus beat fast with hope, until she happened 
to recollect that there was such a thing as death-damp upon 
the brow of the dying, and this might be it ! and her head 
sank with fear. She listened for the patient’s breathing — 
it was soft and deep. She felt her pulse — it was quiet and 
regular. Venus’s heart rose again. While the poor creature 
was undergoing these agues and fevers of hope and fear, 
the night was slowly passing away. 

At length, when the nurse-lamp was going out and the 
daylight was coming in, Astrea calmly unclosed her eyes, 
and looked at Yenus. 

Yenus was too intensely excited to speak ; she could only 
open her mouth, and hold her breath. She was afraid to 
move, lest her slightest motion might dissolve the charm of 
convalescence, and send her patient back again into the 
night of death. 

At length, after serenely contemplating her nurse for a 
few moments, Astrea, in a small, feeble, thread-like voice, 
spoke, and said : 

“ Yenus ” 

“ Thank de Lor’ !” exclaimed the woman. 

“ But, Yenus.” 

“And thank you, too, honey, for coming to life !” 

“Yes ; but, Yenus, how came I here?” 

“Here, honey?” 

“ Yes ; here, in this bed ! Did you undress and put me 
here?” 

“ Yes, honey, of course I did.” 

“ But, why ? Did I go to sleep while sitting watching in 
my chair?” she inquired, striving to recall the events of 
that last night of her consciousness — then, with sudden, 
though but imperfect memory, she exclaimed, “ Oh, heaven 1 
I remember ! I remember !” 

“ Now, don’t you go for ’sturb your mind, chile. Thank 
de Lor’ as you’re alive.” 


454 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ I remember ! I remember ! When that wicked man 
wrested the dagger from my hand, and had me at his mercy, 1 
I fainted with horror !” 

Yenus, who most distinctly recollected that Astrea had ' 
done any thing else but faint, upon the occasion referred ; 
to, now opened her eyes with astonishment. 

“ Yes, I remember quite well that my heart stopped, my | 
eyes failed, and I lost consciousness ! I can remember 
nothing after that. Oh, Yenus, what happened next ? The 
man left the room without further molesting me, did he not ? 
Bad as he was, he would not injure a helpless, swooning 
woman 1 Oh, answer, Yenus ! he left the room, did he not?” 

“ Yes, honey, certney, to be sure he did, immediate ,” re- 
plied Yenus, who supposed it would be the correct thing to 
agree to all her patient said. 

“And then you undressed me, and put me to bed ?” 

“Yes, honey, that I did, good” 

“And you have been sitting by me and watching me ever 
since ?” 

“ Every blessed minute since.” 

“And never left me for a moment ?” 

“ No, nor for a half a moment nyther.” 

“ I hope that man has not been in here again ?” 

“ No, honey, you may take your davy that he hasn’t. 
Nor thought of it nyther.” 

“Yenus !” 

“What, honey?” 

“ It was three o’clock this morning when that man came 
in, and frightened me so ?” 

“ Yes, chile.” 

“And now it is — it must be near six ?” 

“ True, honey.” 

“ Then I have been lying in this state of unconsciousness 
for three hours ?” 

“ Yes, honey ; and ’haps a little longer.” 

“And, oh, Yenus, I am so weakl It is a trouble to 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


455 


breathe, and a greater trouble to speak. My breath flutters 
downward like the flame of a candle that is going out.” 

“ Don’t you let it, honey ! for goodness gracious sake 
hold that same candle steady till I fetches you something !” 
exclaimed the nurse in great alarm, as she hastily poured 
out and brought to her patient a strengthening and com- 
posing mixture. 

Astrea drank it, and fell into a light, easy, natural sleep. 
Poor Yenus dropped upon her knees, and fervently thanked 
heaven for this restored life ; but quite forgot to ask for- 
giveness for all the fibs she had told. 

Dr. Herkimer, anxious for this supposed “poor girl’s” 
fate, came very early in the morning, and after seeing his 
patient, pronounced her quite out of danger and doing well. 


CHAPTER LYII. 

MYSTERY. 

Mystery magnifies danger, 

As a fog the sun. — Colton. 

Astrea’s convalescence was rapid. She possessed one 
of those fine, elastic constitutions that easily rebound from 
depression and lightly throw off debility. As she grew well 
enough to observe what was passing around her, she began 
to discover that something unusual had occurred, that a 
serious change had taken place in the family. She no 
longer heard Rumford’s voice or step ; but the negroes 
walked about with greater liberty and conversed with more 
freedom. 

What had happened ? 

That he was not ill, she knew, because his room, next to 
her own, was unoccupied. 

By little and little she first began to suspect, and then 


456 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

to know, that the planter was dead, and that his heirs were 
soon expected to arrive. 

By the same slow process she gradually came to the 
knowledge that she had been ill of a brain fever for many 
days. And she inferred that Bumford must have died 
during her own illness. 

Hitherto she had vainly sought to gain any correct in- 
formation from Venus. 

Venus had either evaded her questions or else answered 
them with what she considered, under the circumstances, 
justifiable falsehood. No one is perfect, and the reader 
already knows that Venus, notwithstanding all her other 
good traits of character, had a supreme contempt for Truth, 
which she seemed to consider, like fire, a good servant, but 
a bad master ; a thing to be regarded or contemned as it 
promoted or retarded the interests of her friends. With 
this untutored and unregenerated child of nature, friend - 
ship ranked first, and every thing that interfered with that 
was sacrificed. Thus she had told lie upon lie to save 
Astrea ; and thus she had told lie upon lie to compose her 
spirits and aid her convalescence. Nor had Venus one 
single twinge of conscience for doing so. On the contrary, 
she would have had many twinges of conscience if she had 
not done so. But then Venus was not enlightened. 

Astrea understood all this, at length, and forbore to ques- 
tion Venus farther until such a time as she thought she 
should hear the truth. And meanwhile she noted all the 
chance conversation of the servants who passed her door. 
And as the weather was extremely warm' and the door was 
always open, and the passage of the servants very fre- 
quent, she soon gathered a great mass of incoherent infor- 
mation. 

At length, when she was so very much better she could 
not doubt even Venus would no longer hesitate to tell her 
the truth, she resolved to question her. 

So one morning, after Venus had brought her breakfast, 
and seen her eat it with good appetite, Astrea said : 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. • 457 

“ I am nearly well now, Venus.” 

“ Yes, honey, thank Marster.” 

“And now I hope you will keep nothing from me 
longer.” 

“ Hi, chile, what I keep from you ?” 

“ Many things — and first, the death of Mr. Rumford. 
Now then, I want you to tell me all about it, Venus. 

“ Hi, chile, don’t you know ?” 

“ How should I ? You know that from the time he dis- 
armed me and had me at his mercy, I swooned with terror, 
and passed from that swoon into a brain fever, and knew 
nothing more for eight or nine days, when I came to my- 
self. Then, in a few more days, I learned from the gossip 
of the negroes that their master was dead. Now, how and 
when did he die ?” 

“ Hi, honey, is all you tell me jes so ? Don’t you know 
nothing as happened arter he wrung dat little dagger out’n 
your hand ?” 

“ Nothing whatever, Venus ; I must have swooned im- 
mediately.” 

“ Den, sure’s I’s a libin’ sinner, de brain feber done 
burned it all out’n your head. And ’deed ’taint Venus as 
is gwine to ’stress your feelin’s by tellin’ of you how much 
hand you had in that business,” said the woman to herself. 

“ But you have not told me about Rumford’s death.” 

11 Well, honey, you know how he had dat dinner party, 
an’ sat drinkin’, an’ boozin’, an’ singin’ of songs, wid de 
other riporates, till all hours of de night an’ mornin’ ” 

“ I know that, Venus ; I want to" hear about his death.” 

“ Hi, honey, aint I a tellin’ of you ? Well, when de party 
broke up, an’ de gem’n lef ’ an’ went ’way, he come, he do, 
into your room in a state of intoxification ” 

“ Yes, yes, I know that ; but his death ?” 

“ Lor’, chile, aint I cornin’ to dat ? Well, you see, arter 
all dat fuss he made long o’you, and arter he twistified de 
dagger out’n your hand, he laid himself back ag’in de wall, 


458 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


he did, an’ he laughed, an’ laughed, until he hev t’roat into 
de hiccups, an’ hev his blood to his head, and hev hisself 
into an applepesky fit ; which he died of it in ’bout twelve 
hours’ time ; an’ which dey do say he ’pented of his sins 
an’ died praying ; hopes ’twas true !” 

Astrea made no reply ; she was silent for some time ; she 
could not hear the death of her dreaded enemy thus con- 
firmed without strong, conflicting emotions — -joy at the 
event that released her from an impending fate more hor- 
rible than death; compunction for this seeming selfish joy; 
and awe at the suddenness of the summons that had called 
away this soul — 

“ Cut off even in the blossom of his sins, 

Unhousel’d, unanointed, unanneal’d, 

No reckoning made, but sent to his account 
With all his imperfections on his head.” 


And when she did speak, it was to change the subject. 

“ I hear the servants talk of the expected arrival of their 
master’s'relations. Who are they ?” 

“ Hi, honey, how I know who his ’lations is ? No great 
things, you may depend ; else how dey be his ’lations ? Dey 
some poor trash or other. ’Deed I aint gwine to demean 
myself with makin’ no ’quiries ’bout dem. No more aint 
ole Aunt Cybele, nor ole Uncle Saturn. We ’members how 




we ’longed to de ole set, de ’Gregors ; an’ none o’ dese poor 
white herrins from out yonder, nobody knows where ! I 
right glad marse doctor ordered me offin de duty o’ cleanm’ 
de house for ’em, an’ ordered me on de duty o’ nursin’ of 
you ; cause I had no stomach for no work for ole marse, 
nor likewise for his ’lations.” 


“ Venus, you should not carry your resentment beyond 
the grave.” 

“ What dat, honey ?” 

“ I mean you should not continue to hate your old master 
now he is dead !” 

“ But I does , chile, an’ I can’t help of it ! An’ I hates 
him worse dan rank p’ison. Dere ! I don’t wish him no 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


459 


harm, dough ! ’deed don’t 77 I wishes of him well ’nough I 
I hopes he gone to Heben. ’Cause why ? ’Cause you see, 
chile, I’s such a sinner, an’ can’t ’pent, nor mend my ways, 
dat I do really ’spect how I shall go to de debil myself, 
some day ; not dat I think de debil is half as bad as he’s 
made out to be ; but still I ’spects to go to him ; an’ ’deed 
I shouldn’t like to meet ole marse dere ; it would sort o’ 
make de place feel worse, so I hopes he .did ’pent an’ go to 
Heben I” 

“ Oh, Yenus, how irreverent you are I” 

“ What dat, honey?” 

“ How profane.” 

“ Hi, honey, what I jes’ tell you ? I know it chile, an’ 
can’t help of it; dat’s de reason I say I gwine to the 
debil.” 

“ No, Yenus ; I am sure you will not be so lost. You 
will be gathered into the Lord’s fold, some day. And now, 
my kind nurse, I must thank you for all your devotion to 
me during my illness ; devotion that I truly believe saved 
my life,” said Astrea, earnestly. 

“Yes, honey — didn’t I fetch you through handsome, 
though ? Why, Lors, chile, I wouldn’t trust a singly soul 
to sit up ’long o’ you at night but my precious self. I 
wouldn’t let de sleepyhead overcome me once nyther: I 
drinked green tea till all was blue ! an’ it kept my two eyes 
stretched as if dey had been prop’ open wid straws,” said 
Yenus, with pride and delight. 

“ I know it, my dear woman ; and I would repay you . 
with something better than vain words, if I were now what 
I once was.” 

“ Hi, honey — what I want wid repay ? I’s glad to my 
heart as you’ve got well ! And as to you not bein’ what 
you once was, you’s cornin’ on to dat same fast !” 

“ What do you mean, Yenus ?” 

“ I mean, chile, how you is come to yourself in more 
ways dan one. First, ’bout nine days arter you had been 


V 


460 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

lyin’ unsensible, j r ou come to your senses / An’ now you’s 
cornin’ to your 'plexion /” 

“What! Yenus?” 

“ Yes, honey ! Dey can’t come dat game now! Dey can’t 
pass you off for a ’latto or a quadroon or any other sort 
’roon any longer ! You jes’ look at yourself in de lookin’ 
glass.” 

And so saying, Yenus went to the window, and opened 
the shutters, and then lifted the heavy toilet mirror bodily 
off the dressing table, and lugged it toward the bed. 

Hitherto the chamber had been kept in the subdued 
light most agreeable to the weak vision of an invalid re- 
covering from brain fever. Hitherto, also, Astrea had not 
looked in a glass. 

Now, therefore, when she saw her face reflected in the 
mirror that Yenus sat before her, she uttered a cry of joy. 
She had recovered her own complexion. Her illness, and 
the sudorifics she had taken, had thrown off by perspiration 
the false brown that had tinged the purity of her skin ; she 
was now as fair as a white camelia ; her surprise and delight 
had also called up a rosy flush to her colorless cheeks, and 
a brilliant light to her eyes. So that the image now re- 
flected from the glass was that of her own true, radiant 
countenance. 

“But my hair!” she said, snatching off the little cambric 
cap that covered her head. She knew, of course, by miss- 
ing it, that her hair had been shaved off. But she had not 
reflected that it must necessarily grow out in its natural 
color again. It was, therefore, with another thrill of bliss 
she looked upon the young growth of fine, soft, pale gold 
hair that covered her queenly little head. 

“ Dere, now, you see, honey — no passin’ o’ you off for 
any sort o’ a ’roon now !” 

“No, I think not, Yenus ; but I must write immediately 
to my friends ; for now at least, Yenus, you can procure 
for me some writing materials, and afterward take my letter 
to the post-office.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


461 


“ Now look here, honey, how I gwine do dat ? Ebery 
singly pen, ink, and paper done been gathered up an’ locked 
in ole marse secretary, an’ a seal as big as a dinner plate 
put on de keyhole ; an’ as for takin’ o’ a letter to de mail 
pos’-office, eben s’posin’ you had any thing to write one 
wid, dat’s out’n de question, ’cause all we colored people 
forbid to leave de place till ole marse ’s ’lations ’rive, blame 
’em ! But howsever, honey, don’t you ’sturb yourself if you 
can’t write just now. When de new marse comes, you jes’ 
tell him all about yourself, an’ den when he see your fair 
skin an’ goold hair, he ’blige to believe you, for he can’t go 
for to ’tend to say now as you’s a ’roon,” said Venus, as 
she took up the mirror, carried it back, and replaced it on 
the dressing table. 

Some days passed, and still the expected relatives of the 
deceased had not arrived. 

“ ’Haps dey has not got money enough to fetch ’em, de 
poor white trash,” said Venus. 


CHAPTER LVIII. 

ARRIVAL OF AN OLD FRIEND. 

It gives me wonder, great as my content, 

To see you here before me ! — Shakespeare. 

A week slipped away and Astrea was well enough to 
leave her room. She went over the house, and found that 
Rumford’s servants, by way of recommending themselves 
to the new master, had given it a thorough renovation, and 
made it really pleasant. Astrea, with a convalescent’s 
eagerness for out-doors, wandered all day long about the 
grounds. She had no one to restrain or advise her, and so 
she went out early and stayed out late every day, until at 


462 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

last, in her feeble condition, she took a cold, that once more 
confined her to her room. 

It was late one afternoon that she was sitting in the 
easy chair, beside the back window of her chamber, watch- 
ing the crimson, purple, and golden clouds that canopied 
so royally the setting sun, when she heard the sound of 
wheels upon the drive, and presently afterward the noise 
of a large arrival. There were two carriages stopped 
before the door, and discharged their passengers ; then fol- 
lowed the entrance of many people into the hall ; the sound 
of soft, silvery voices, mingled with rougher tones ; and the 
thumping down of many heavy trunks and boxes upon the 
floor. By these “ tokens true” Astrea felt sure that the 
new master and his family had arrived. 

Some of the party went up-stairs, and their trunks were 
carried up behind them. 

Others — ladies they seemed — went into the front chamber 
adjoining her own. Here their silvery voices were once 
more heard giving directions where their trunks and boxes 
must be placed. Their words and tones in speaking to the 
servants were gentle and courteous. That argued well of 
them. Some time passed, in which it seemed that they 
changed their travelling dresses ; and then all went out to- 
gether and entered the drawing-room. Next Astrea heard 
the servants carrying in the tea, and then “ the soft tink- 
ling of silver spoons upon china saucers,” and the cheery 
voices that usually are heard around the tea-table. An 
hour passed thus, and then she heard the same servants 
remove the tea service. And then in a few minutes, to her 
great relief, Yenus entered the room, bringing her supper. 

“ So dey’s come at last,” said Yenus, as she set the cup 
of coffee and plate of buttered toast beside Astrea ; “ and, 
honey, I takes back all I ever said agin ’em, even if dey are 
ole marse’s ’lations, deed I do.” 

“ Then you like the new master ?” Astrea inquired. 

“ Honey, de new marse is a missus, an’ a proper lady, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 463 

too, as ’haves herself like a lady, an’ knows how to treat 
human creeturs as sich, an’ not as dogs.” 

“ Who is she, and what is her name ?” 

“ Hi, honey, how I know who she is, more’n she’s ole 
marser’s heiress ? An’ as for her name, I aint heerd it yet.” 

“ Who are those with her ? There seem to be several 
ladies ; who are they ?” 

“ Her chillun, honey, her chillun ; she’s deir model*, dough 
she do look more like deir sister.” 

Astrea, with the interest natural to one in her position, 
asked many more questions about the newly-arrived party, 
and when they had been satisfactorily answered, feeling 
weak and weary, she retired to bed. Venus, who still oc- 
cupied her place on the mattress beside Astrea’s bedstead, 
soon followed her' example. About ten o’clock she heard 
the ladies enter the adjoining room and go to rest. Then, 
as nothing more disturbed her during the night, she went 
to sleep. 

Early in the morning, Astrea, feeling much recovered, 
arose and dressed herself. She was, in truth, very anxious 
to be introduced as soon as possible to the new mistress, 
so as to tell her story, if perchance it might gain credit, 
and thus to learn her fate. 

Venus, as usual, brought her breakfast to her room, and 
told her that the new mistress and her party were also at 
breakfast in the dining-room. 

Astrea drank her chocolate and ate her muffin, and then 
awaited with impatience an opportunity of speaking to the 
new proprietor. From time to time, during the morning, 
Venus put her head in at the door to report progress. 
Once she said : 

“ Missus done sent pos’ haste for de lawyer.” And an- 
other time she announced : 

“ Marse Lawyer Fulmore done ’rived ; an’ he and de 
madam in de parlor sittin’ at de centre table wid a whole 
raft o’ papers before dem.” 


464 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


Upon another occasion she looked in and said : 

“ Missus readin’ over a list of field hands.” Late in the 
afternoon she came into the room and announced : 

“ De lawyer is gone. De madam an’ de young ladies is 
in de parlor. De madam been lookin’ over a list of de 
house servants, an’ has had ebery one of us up before her, 
one at a time, to speak to and get ’quainted wid, like. An’ 
now she has jes ax for de girl Zora, which she means you, 
honey, an’ she wants you to come in immediate.” 

“ She is in the parlor, you said ?” inquired Astrea, rising. 

“ Sittin’ in dere wid de young ladies.” 

Astrea went for a moment to the glass, smoothed her 
hair, adjusted her dress, and passed directly to the parlor. 

As she entered, her eyes felt upon a striking group. 
Upon the sofa that stood between the two front windows, 
was seated a stately and beautiful woman, whose bright 
golden hair, and fair, radiant complexion, were well set off 
by her rich mourning-dress. Beside her, and leaning ca- 
ressingly upon her shoulder, sat a lovely young girl, who, 
in features and complexion, so closely resembled the lady, 
that strangers w-ould have taken them for sisters. Upon a 
cushion at the lady’s feet, sat a little, dark, sparkling kind 
of a creature, whose crimson cheek rested upon the lady’s 
lap, but whose head was nearly concealed by a fall of glit- 
tering jet-black ringlets. This girl raised her brilliant black 
eyes for a moment to look at the new-comer. 

And with a sudden cry, she sprung to her feet and ran 
across the floor, exclaiming : 

“ Why, that is Daney ! That is Astrea ! That is Mrs. 
Eulke Greville 1” Then, as if unable to advance another 
step, or speak another word, Ettie Burns, for of course it 
was herself, stopped short in breathless astonishment and 
joy. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


465 


CHAPTER LIX. 

RECOVERY. 

“ Turn gentle lady, 

Our Perdita’s found.” — Shakespeare. 

“ Oh, Ettie ! Ettie Burns !” exclaimed Astrea, hurrying 
forward — “ have you come from Heaven to save me ?” 

“ No, I came from New York with my splendid grand- 
mamma ! But where did you come from ? How came you 
away down here in this out-of-the-way place ? I never ! 77 

“Ettie, I was forcibly abducted and brought here. I 
have been kept in restraint ever since, and not even been 
permitted to write to my friends !” 

“Well — I — never! Here is a go! Do you know, 
Astrea, that many people believe you to have been mur- 
dered, and that Colonel Greville ” Here Ettie abruptly 

paused in her speech, frightened by the sudden paleness of 
Astrea, and conscious that she had nearly said too much, 
for she had been on the point of adding, “ has been arrested 
for your murder.” 

“ Colonel Greville ! Oh, what of Colonel Greville, Ettie V 7 
eagerly questioned Astrea. 

“ Won’t believe a word about your having been killed, 
you know ! And neither will the Captain !” 

“And are they well ? oh, Ettie ! are they well ?” 

“ Why, yes ; as well as anybody could hope them to be 
and you away !” 

“ My husband, Ettie ! oh, is he in good health V 7 

“As hearty as possible under the circumstances, I tell 
you.” 

“And my dear old guardian ! oh, he is old ! Are you 
sure he does not fail ?” 

“ Not— one— bit ! He looks as if he might live a half 
century longer ! though that would be a pity for him too, 
29 


466 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


for I — do — know — that when Captain William Fuljoy dies, 
he’ll go right straight to heaven, without even being asked 
to show his ticket !” 

“All well ! All well ! Oh, thank Heaven !” said Astrea, 
fervently — “but, Ettie, if they did not believe I was mur- 
dered, how did they account for my absence ?” 

“ They thought that you had been stolen away ! And 
they put advertisements in all the papers, and they offered 
large rewards for any information about you ! and, oh, 
dear! here’s another gol” 

“What, dear Ettie ?” 

“ Why I shall get the reward because I have found you ! 
And, oh ! it is ever so many thousand dollars ! Because 
Colonel Greville, and Captain Euljoy, and Madame de 
Glacie, all put in, I do suppose.” 

“ Madame de Glacie, my dear ? Who is Madame de 
Glacie ?” 

“ Oh, crickey ! but then of course you don’t know ! she’s 
your mamma, that you were stolen away from, when you 
were a baby ! Don’t you know, you used to have a dim 
recollection of an old chateau and a 

“ Yes, yes, tell me about my mother !” 

“ Well, you see she saw your carte-de-visite in a show- 
window at Paris, and so she recognized it as the likeness 
of her daughter, and she made inquiries, and finally traced 
you all the way to Euljoy ’s Isle, and arrived only a few 
days after you were missed.” 

“Oh, my poor mother! what a bitter disappointment!” 

“Wasn’t it though? Ah, but didn’t she bear it like a 
hero, neither ? I’ll tell you what, she’s a brick ; and I 
don’t believe the others could have borne up at all if it 
hadn’t been for her ! She kept up all their spirits ! She 
it was who first insisted that you were not dead, and she it 
was who had all the advertisements put in the paper, and 
who employed my handsome uncle Welby Dunbar to hunt 
you up !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 467 

“ Welby Dunbar !” re-echoed Astrea, as the name sounded 
in her ears like a dim reminiscence of her childhood. 

“ Yes ! My handsome uncle ! he is here now ! Oh, 
won’t he be glad, rather though ? He shan’t have the re- 
ward, however, because I found you !” 

“And do you mean to say that my mother’s attorney, the 
gentleman she employed to seek me, is really in this house ?” 

“ Well, he is not anywhere else,” said Ettie ; “and you 
can see him if you like !” 

“ Heaven be praised ! But, oh, Ettie, how was it that he 
came ? Did they get any clue to help them to trace me 
here ?” 

“Hot the least little bit in the world.” 

“ How, then, is it that he is here ?” 

“ Chance, accident, Providence I mean ! And the most 
natural thing in this world ! You see he is my splendid 
grandmother’s son, and my splendid grandmother is Mr. 
Rumford’s sister and heiress, and she came down here to 
take possession of the property 1” 

“ Providence indeed ! But, my dear Ettie, how is it that 
you are here ? I thought you a fixture at Burnstop ?” 

Ettie’s bright face clouded over as she answered : 

“My Grandfather Burns died and I was sent to my 
Grandmamma Greville in Hew York.” 

“ Your Grandmamma Greville, my dear? I did not know 
that you had a grandmamma of that name.” 

“ Of course you didn’t ; because you see,” said Ettie, 
lowering her voice, confidentially, “I didn’t know it myself 
until a little while ago, for the reason that Grandfather 
Burns and Grandmother Greville couldn’t saddle horses 
together.” 

“ Couldn’t saddle horses together, Ettie ?” repeated 
Astrea, in a perplexed and questioning tone. 

“ Oh, bosh ! you know what I mean — they couldn’t agree j 
and so he never mentioned her to me, till just before he 
died. And, oh ! I say, Astrea ! here’s another go I it has 
just struck me !” 


468 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ What is that, my dear ?” 

“Why, my Grandmamma Grevilleis your step-mother-in- 
law !” 

“ Step-mother-in-law, Ettie 1” 

“Well, yes, she is slightly.” 

“ How do you mean, dear ?” 

“ Why, if Mrs. Greville is Colonel Greville ’s step-mother , 
isn’t she your step-mother-in-law V 1 

“ Ettie,” exclaimed Astrea, in a .low, and hurried voice, 
“ do you mean to tell me that this lady is the Mrs. Court- 
ney Greville of New York, who ” 

“ Well, she aint anybody' else ! And here she comes now 
herself to see what we are at !” exclaimed Ettie, as Mrs. 
Greville was observed to arise and approach them. 

The conversation between Astrea and Ettie had gone on 
with great rapidity. Answer had followed question, and 
exclamation had followed comment with breathless vehe- 
mence. But it must not be supposed that it had been un- 
observed. Mrs. Greville and Lois had witnessed the meet- 
ing and the recognition at first with astonishment and stu- 
pefaction ; then they had watched the exciting interview 
with the deepest interest. Some parts of the conversation 
were perfectly audible ; other portions, in which the parties 
lowered their voices, were not so. Enough, however, had 
reached Mrs. Greville ’s ears to convince her that in this 
lovely young stranger Ettie had recognized the lost bride 
of Fuljoy’s Island. Twice or thrice, from the impulses of 
benevolence, she had risen to approach the speakers. And 
as often, from scruples of delicacy, she had hesitated to in- 
trude upon their interview. She had hoped that Ettie her- 
self would see the propriety of presenting her friend ; but 
when she saw that her rustic grandchild had no such inten- 
tion, and when she heard her own relationship to the young 
stranger alluded to, thus opening a way for her graceful 
approach, she immediately came forward, and holding out 
her hand, said, in a voice tremulous with emotion, that 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 469 

even she , practiced woman of the world, could not entirely 
suppress : 

“Yes, I am that Mrs. Greville, step-mother to your hus- 
band, from whom he, when a boy, in a fit of boyish pique, 
ran away. Through the most remarkable combination of 
circumstances, we have been separated *tnd estranged ever 
since. But you, my dear, I hope may be the means of re- 
uniting us. That is, if he has not taught you to hate and 
distrust me.” 

Astrea was trembling violently ; but she answered, though 
in a faltering voice : 

“ My husband never mentioned your name to me, 
Madam. But from other sources I know that the long 
estrangement was not of his making. As soon as he had 
won some honors at the college to which our uncle sent 
him, he wrote, most respectfully, to inform you of his suc- 
cess. Lady, the only answer he received to his letter was 
a cold line, disclaiming all knowledge of the writer. You 
cannot wonder that he never wrote again.” 

“I do not ! But, oh, my dear, it all grew out of the 
strangest freak of fortune that ever was played by a fish boy. 
At the very moment of writing that letter, I was firmly 
persuaded that my step-son was "under my own roof, and 
that some impostor had written to me ! The story is too 
long to tell you now. But this much I may say: that a 
boy, the perfect image, counterpart, fac-simile of my son, 
was picked up in the streets of New York and brought to 
me. He was a stranger in the city. There was no one to 
prove his proper identity ; while there were hundreds ready 
to swear that he was Bulke Greville, my step-son. In a 
word, ever after he bore that name and held that position.” 

“An impostor!” broke indignantly from the lips of 
Astrea. 

“ No, my dear ! no impostor ; but a noble souled lad, who 
vainly protested against the privileges, honors, and riches 
that were lavished upon him, declaring that he had no law- 


470 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


ful right to them, until all his resistance was overborne by 
evidence and authority, and he was compelled to submit, at i 
least during his minority. But after he became of age, and 
found himself a free agent, he seized the first opportunity 
of resigning a position to which he asserted he had no I 
claim. Do you think it required no moral heroism to do 
that ? I tell you it needed more than you know of ! But 
I declare to you, that he has lost nothing and shall lose : 
nothing by that act ! He is the son of my affections, the 
betrothed of my daughter ; his name is Welby Dunbar !” 

“ 1 Welby Dunbar V ” exclaimed Astrea, again struck by 
the familiar sound of a name that it seemed to her she 
ought to know. Then suddenly memory lighted up the 
whole subject as it lay in the past, and she smiled, saying : 

“ 1 no longer wonder, lady, at this mistake of years ! As 
a child I came over in the same emigrant ship with Welby 
Dunbar. I lost him in the wilderness of New York. I was 
taken down to Maryland, and was eventually adopted by 
Captain Fuljoy, Heaven bless him ! And it was while I 
was still at the island that Fulke came to spend his holi- 
days there ; and as soon as I saw him, so perfect was the 
likeness you speak of, that I declared him to be Welby 
Dunbar, the fish boy, and none else. And it was years, 
Madam, before I was disabused of this illusion. ” 

“ I am well pleased to hear you say so ; for your husband 
will the more readily understand my own self-deception. 
But all this time, my dear, I am keeping you standing ! 
Forgive my negligence, and take this seat,” said the lady, 
conducting Astrea to an easy chair that was placed near the 
sofa. 

“ This is my daughter, Lois,”- she continued, presenting 
the young lady, who frankly extended her hand, and cor- 
dially greeted the stranger. 

Mrs. Greville then rang a bell. 

Venus answered it. 

“ Tell the girl Zora that she need not come in just now,” 
said the lady. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 471 

Venus stared with astonishment for an instant, and then 
exclaimed : 

“ Hi, missus — dere’s Miss Zora a sittin’ in de rockin’ 
chair, right afore your two looking eyes, ma’am!” 

“ Stupid ! That young lady is Mrs. Fulke Greville.” 

“Yes, missus — I knows she’s Mrs. Full Grebille an’ like- 
wise Miss Zora ; leastways so dey will have it down here.” 

It was now Mrs. Greville’s turn to he astonished. She 
turned her eyes full upon Astrea, with a look of question- 
ing and of shuddering. 

“ It is true, Madam ; Zora was the name given me by my 
abductors, after they had dyed my hair and stained my 
skin !” 

“ You have a long story to tell me, my dear.” 

“ Indeed, I have, Madam.” 

“ Venus, you may retire ; but go and say to Mr. Dunbar 
that I would feel obliged if he would come here,” said Mrs. 
Greville. 

Venus obeyed ; and as soon as the door closed behind 
her, the lady turned to Astrea, and in a voice quivering 
with emotion, inquired : 

“ Oh, heaven, my child ! can you re-assure me ?” 

“ Yes, yes, dear Madam, I can ! Providence has watched 
over me! I have been safe!” 

“Thank heaven !” ejaculated the lady. 

Lois opened her blue eyes, and looked from one to the 
other for an explanation of this short exclamatory dialogue ; 
but at the same moment the door opened, and Welby Dun- 
bar entered the room. 

Mrs. Greville arose and met him, saying, in a low voice : 

“ Welby, my dear, I believe you to be a man of steady 
nerves, not easily surprised from your self-possession. I 
am about to put that to the test.” 

And taking him by the hand, she led him up to the 
stranger, saying: 

“Astrea, my love, this is my son, Mr. Dunbar; Welby, 


472 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


my dear, this is the Mrs. Fulke Greville of whom you have 
been so long in search.” 

However steady Welby’s nerves might have been on 
usual occasions, he was now certainly startled from his 
propriety. Instead of bowing, as he was bound to do, he 
started back a little, trembled, flushed, and paled, fumbled 
in his pocket for the miniature the Marquis de Glacie had 
given him, and gazed alternately upon that and the face of 
the original. At length, as if satisfied, he exclaimed : 

“ It is indeed ! It must be !” And then, with an ingen- 
uous blush, he said : 

“Pray, pardon me, Madam, if the surprise, the delight, 
and the incredulity I experienced in this unexpected meet- 
ing, have made me forget myself.” 

“ I have nothing to pardon in your caution ; and much 
to be grateful for in the easy recognition that you have 
given me,” said Astrea, gently. “ But we have met before, 
you know. You have not forgotten little Daney on the 
emigrant ship ?” she inquired, with a sweet smile lighting 
up the blue eyes that she fixed upon him. 

A whirl of emotion rushed over his face. He had not 
forgotten ; but he had never suspected that the poor, pale 
baby of the emigrant ship was the missing child of Madame 
de Glacie. 

— “ Because, if you have” she added, “ I have not for- 
gotten the fish boy who was my only friend. I do believe 
I should have died, if you had not fed me wfitli oysters 
every day. Oh, how I cried when they carried me away 1” 

“And how I hunted you through New York!” said 
Welby, gazing still in stupefaction upon her. 

“And how I scolded you in the person of Fulke Greville, 
whom I believed to be yourself, practising an imposition on 
us !” smiled Astrea. 

“And now, Welby,” said Mrs. Greville, “take a chair 
and draw up to our circle. I sent for you here, not only 
to meet Astrea, but also to hear the explanation she is 
about to give us.” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKEE. 


473 


Then, turning to Astrea, she continued : 

“And now, my love, if you feel equal to the task, we 
wish you to tell us your story.” 

Thus invited, Astrea related the history of her abduc- 
tion, as far as it was known to herself, from the night that 
she was surprised in her room by ;fche black-robed figure, 
who clapped the sponge of chloroform over her mouth and 
nose, overpowering her senses, up to the hour in which, as 
“ Zora,” she was summoned to Mrs. Greville’s presence. 

* Her hearers listened with breathless interest. At the 
end of the story, Mrs. Greville was the first to speak. 

What a life of vicissitudes has yours been 1 Born an 
heiress ; stolen in your infancy, and subjected to the worst 
evils of poverty ; adopted by a wealthy man ; married to a 
distinguished military officer; torn at night from your 
bridal chamber ; carried to sea by pirates ; sold as a slave ; 
driven by desperation to the Cypress Swamp ; hunted by 
bloodhounds ; re-captured ; subjected to insult ; exposed to 
death ; and rescued only at the last moment by an unex- 
pected stroke of Providence! Oh, Heaven of Heavens, 
what a story ! You have passed through a furnace seven 
times heated, Astrea ! but you have come from the fire, 
pure as refined gold ! strong as tempered steel !” 

“ Now, I think she escaped all these dangers, as Tam 
O’Shanter’s mare did with the witches, with the loss of her 
long, flowing hair!” 

“ Be still, you saucy girl !” said Mrs. Greville, smiling. 

Then rising, and excusing herself to Astrea, she re- 
quested Welby to attend her, and left the apartment. 

When they had reached the dining-room and seated them- 
selves, Mrs. Greville inquired : 

“And now, what should be our first step ?” 

“ In view of what may be even now taking place in the 
criminal courts of Maryland, and with which it is not ad- 
visable to trouble the young lady ” 

“No, no — certainly not !” put in Mrs. Greville. 


474 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

“ We should act with the greatest promptitude. We 

should go immediately to the city, taking Mrs. Fulke Gre- 
ville and Miss Burns with us, prove her identity before 
some magistrate, lay the whole affair before the police, and 
get them to send an official telegram to the authorities in 
Maryland to arrest proceedings against Colonel Greville. 
We must also send a telegram to Captain Fuljoy and to 
Colonel Greville, informing them of our discovery. Then 
we may write a fuller account by mail. But my idea is, 
that as soon as Captain Fuljoy receives the message, ancfc 
Colonel Greville is set at liberty, they will hasten here.” 

“ That is excellent ; but would it not be better for you to 
set out immediately with Astrea?” 

“No ; I am sure she could never bear the journey. She 
is but a feeble convalescent still.” 

“ True. You remember every thing, while I remember 
nothing.” 

“But then it is my trade,” smiled Welby. 

“And, my dear, as we are to go to the city to-day, the 
sooner we set forth the better ; so I will trouble you to 
order the carriage, while we put on our bonnets.” 

The young man left the room to comply with this request. 
And a few minutes afterward, Mrs. Greville, Astrea, Ettie, 
and Welby, were seated in the old-fashioned • coach, driven 
by Sam, and on their way to the city. They accomplished 
their purpose in a few hours, and returned late in the 
evening. 

After this, to the great delight of Yenus, and to the huge 
astonishment of the other negroes, Astrea was elevated to 
her proper position in the family, and treated with the 
utmost respect and affection. 

Yenus tossed her head very high, in view of her superior 
information upon the subject. 

“I knowed it all along, niggers ! Mrs. Full Grebille done 
tuk me in her conference long ago ! I knowed it on de 
ship !” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 475 

11 Oh, yes ! you knows ebery t’ing — arter it’s all found 
out /” laughed old Cybele. 

“ Berry well, den ! I knowed it arter it was all found 
out, did I ? Now den, I gwine to tell you somefin afore it’s 
found out, and dat is dis — how Pm gwine to be bought an* 
sot free by Mrs. Full Grebille ! Mine, I tell you all dat 
afore its found out !” 

“ Yes ! a long way afore it’s found out 1” said Cybele, 
dryly. “ So long, I misdoubts we’ll lib to see it 1” 

“ Berry well, den ! Now I tell you more — how I is gwine 
to t>e hired to her for a lady maid, an’ gwine to go along of 
her an’ de colonel to Europe !” 

“ To which ?” inquired Uncle Saturn. 

“ To Europe !” 

“ What dat ?” 

“ What Europe ? I ’spises dese country bred niggers’ 
ignorance !” 

“ Come, now. You’s only been one voyage roun’ de 
world, an’ you puts on airs! Bet any thing you don’t 
know no more ’bout Europe dan we do !” 

“ Don’t I ? Why, it’s a great city bigger dan New Or- 
leans, out yonder, beyant Washington, dere’s what it is, an’ 
where it is ; which I am going dere myself as lady maid to 
Mrs. Full Grebille, when she an’ de colonel goes onto deir 
bridal tower 1” 

“ Bridle — which ?” 

“ Bridal tower, you ignorant-ramus ! An’ ’sides which, 
I’m not agoin’ to demean myself no more with wearin’ no 
calico gowns and banana turbins ; but I shall have a black 
silk dress and a little lace cap, trimmed wid pink satin rib- 
bon, like Missus Courting Grebille’s lady maid, Mammysell 
Silly stone !” 

“ Whee — ew !” commented the old negro, taking his pipe 
from his mouth, and letting olf a thin, spiral curl of smoke. 

“Uncle Satan! you’s intoxified, sar!” 

“ I’s which ?” 


476 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ Intoxified.” 

“ Do you mean drunk ?” 

“ I beleibs dat what de wulgar call de state you’s in.” 

“ Go ’way from here, gall ; I neber was drunk in my life !” 
said the old man, good-humoredly, knocking the ashes out 
of his pipe. 

“ You is ! which it’s no wonder, long as you can’t leave 
de wine glasses be ; but must alius drain dry ebery singly 
glass as it come outen de dinin’-room ; a mixin’ all up to- 
geder — port, an’ clary, an’ shampain, an’ sherry, an’ my- 
deary, an’ all !” 

“ Well ! dey’s all good ; an’ one set off anoder, jes as de 
whites ob your eyes sets off de black ob your skin, my 
deary,” grinned the old man. 

“ Mr. Satan ’Gregor, sar, I scorns to ’ply to you ! I’s a 
lady maid, an’ ’dines to keep comp’n}'' wid de like ob you /” 
said Venus, throwing up her head and walking with great 
dignity from the kitchen. 

“Whee — ew! what long whiskers our pussy cat has 
got !” cried Uncle Saturn, blowing a wliif of tobacco smoke 
after her. 

But Venus did not boast in vain. Astrea, in her re- 
viving fortunes, remembered the faithful, humble friend of 
her adversity. 

One day, while Mrs. Greville, Astrea, Lois, and Ettie 
were setting at work together in the parlor, the first-men- 
tioned said to the second : 

* ‘Astrea, love, I wish to do something to prove my affec- 
tion for you ! What shall it be?” 

“ Dear Mrs. Greville, that which is so evident does not 
want proof. I shall never doubt your love,” replied 
Astrea. 

“ Then to put the meaning in other w'ords, I wish to add 
to your happiness. In what manner can I do so ?” 

“ Kindest of friends, I was about to say that nothing but 
the presence of my husband and my guardian could add to 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 477 

my happiness, but that would not be true ; there is another 
circumstance that would delight me.” 

“ Name it, my love !” 

“ The possession of Venus ! She was the only friend I 
had in the darkest days of my captivity — my friend from 
the moment I first opened my eyes in the pirate ship to the 
moment she came to summon me to your presence ! And 
such a friend ! She had no liberty to lose, poor woman ; 

but she risked her life and even her soul for me ; and ” 

here Astrea hesitated and blushed. 

“And what, my dear, what would you have ?” 

“ I would like to purchase Venus of you ; oh, forgive 
me ! I know I am rude, but then I wish to have Venus 
always with me ! It would grieve me deeply to part with 
dear Venus.” 

“ You shall have her, my love I and no doubt she will be 
a treasure to you! for between mistress and maid, the tie 
of affection is every thing !” 

And so saying Mrs. Greville, who was prompt in all her 
acts, arose and went into the next room where Welby Dun- 
bar sat writing at a table. She held a whispered conversa- 
tion with him for a few minutes, and then returned to her 
circle of daughters, and entered upon a new subject of con- 
versation. 

That night, when Astrea retired to her room, she 
saw upon her dressing table a large envelope directed to 
her. Upon examining its contents, she found a deed of 
gift transferring Venus from the possession of Mrs. Greville 
to herself. Astrea’s act followed quick upon that of Mrs. 
Greville. The next morning, directly after breakfast, she 
spoke to Welby Dunbar, saying : 

“ Will you do me a favor ?” 

“Any thing in the world !” 

“ Then please draw up a deed of manumission for the 
woman named in this document,” she said, placing the deed 
of gift in his hands. He smiled, and placing his hand in 


478 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


the breast pocket of his coat, drew a folded parchment out, 
saying : 

“ You perceive that I foresaw you would make this re- 
quest, and anticipated it ! Here are the 1 free papers,’ as 
the negroes call them. Your signature only is wanted !” 

“ Oh, hand me a pen !” exclaimed Astrea, hurriedly. 

He put one in her hand, and laid the document open 
before her. She hastily affixed her signature, and then 
took up the parchment, and with her childish eagerness ran 
into her bedroom, where Venus lingered, after having ar- 
ranged it for the day. 

“ Venus ! dear Venus ! here are your free papers ! here ! 
here 1” and she eagerly thrust the packet into the woman’s 
hand. 

“ My fee papers !” repeated Venus, bewildered by the 
suddenness of the transaction. 

“ Yes, yes, Venus I You are a free woman, now ; you 
belong to no one but yourself 1 You can come and go as 
you please ! You can leave me when you like !” 

“ Oh, honey I I mean, madam ! would you turn me loose, 
now, to be made a mock of, by de niggers, arter me brag- 
gin’ to dem as how I was a-goin’ to be your lady maid ?” 
whined Venus. 

“Ho, no ; I never wish to part with you, Venus !” 

“ Hen why say it ?” 

“Only to inform you, Venus, that you possess the power 
of going wherever you please. If you like to remain with 
me, I will gladly engage you as my own maid !” 

“Here! I knowed it! I said it! I telled ’em all so! 
Here was a prophecye in my soul as how I’d lib to see my- 
self a lady maid, an’ wear black silk dresses an’ little lace 
caps !” exclaimed Venus, more delighted at her office than 
at her freedom. 

“ I am happy, Venus, to be the means of realizing to you 
your day-dream,” said Astrea, smiling. 

“ ’Twa’nt no dream, honey ; ’cause dreams alius goes con- 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 479 

trary-wise ! no, indeed ! It was all my own thoughts, 
honey — Mrs. Full Grebille, I should say.” 

“Venus, I have a request to make of you.” 

“ What dat, chile ? — Mrs. Full Grebille, I mean.” 

“It is that you will continue to call me child and honey, 
as before. Love and its pet names are much dearer to my 
heart than pride and its titles.” 

“ So it is to mine, honey, an’ a heap more nateral too.” 

“Now, then, Venus, as you are to be my attendant, and 
go with me to the North, you will want an outfit. Here, 
then, is fifty dollars, your first half year’s wages in 
advance,” said Astrea, putting a purse in the woman’s 
hand. 

“ Lor’, chile, I didn’t ax for no wages to wait on you , I’d 
wait on you free-hearted for nothing, sake o’ being ’long o’ 
you. ’Sides, wdiat I gwine do wid all dis here goold ?” 

“ Buy clothes, Venus.” 

“ Hi, honey, Mrs. Courting Grebille done give me all 
that great big chist full o’ finery as used to b’long to poor 
Lulu — more clothes dan would las’ me half my life ! So 
what I gwine do wid all dis money?” 

“ Put it away and save it then, Venus, as the first fruits 
of your free labor.” 

“ I keep it for your sake den, chile. I put it in de bot- 
tom o’ my chist, an’ I look at it, an’ think o’ you ! An’ 
now, honey, may I go an’ tell ole Aunt Cybele an’ ole 
Uncle Satan?” 

“ Certainly,” answered Astrea, smiling. 

Venus ran all the way out of the house across the yard and 
into the kitchen, holding her free papers at arms’ length. 
And when she got into the presence of the old negroes, she 
waved them derisively in their faces, exclaiming : 

“ Dere ! what I tell you? You has lib see it, hasn’t you ? 
Dem’s de f’ee papers!” 

“Lor! Now I ’spose, cause you owns yourself, you 
thinks you has got somefin great. Sho ! you won’t think 


480 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


so when you fines you has got to keep yourself for better 
for worser, for richer for poorer, in healf an’ in sickness, 
now I tell you ! It’s a ser’us thing to have to s’port your- 
self, an’ dat you’ll fine, gall !” said old Cybele. 

“Ay, will you,” chimed in old Saturn. 

“ Sour grapes !” cried Venus, as she flung herself out of 
the kitchen and went to overhaul Lulu’s chest and prepare 
some finery. And that same afternoon Venus blossomed 
out in her robes of office — a black silk dress, a little white 
muslin apron, a tiny lace cap perched upon the back of her 
head, and her front hair drawn out and pulled until it was 
made to part over her forehead and lie down on each temple, 
like “ Mammysells Sillystones,” for it was the highest ambi- 
tion of Venus to imitate and excel the toilettes of Made- 
moiselle Celestine. 

When, however, poor Venus first paraded her new style 
of dress among her fellow-servants, her appearance, instead 
of eliciting the burst of admiration she confidently expected, 
provoked an explosion of laughter, which she immediately 
resented. As for the French maid, she looked at Venus in 
her new apparel with the same sort of amused curiosity 
with which she would have examined a monkey in full dress. 
And this Venus took for a compliment. 

The family were anxiously awaiting news from the North. 
Mrs. Courtney Greville had -constituted herself Astrea’s 
banker. And to help to pass away the tediousness of the 
time of waiting, Mrs. Greville took her whole party to New 
Orleans to spend a W'eek. Astrea took advantage of their 
visit to the city to procure a proper and becoming outfit. 


THE FOETUNB SEEKER. 


481 


CHAPTER LX. 

HOPE DEFERRED. 

To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow 
Creeps in this petty paoe from day to day, 

To the last syllable of recorded time ; 

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusky death ! — Shakespeare. 

Meanwhile, at Fuljoy’s Isle, in Maryland, nothing was 
as yet known, or suspected, of the events transpiring at the 
Old Plantation House in Louisiana. 

From the time that Mr. Dunbar had left the neighbor- 
hood, for the purpose of inserting advertisements in the 
city papers offering a munificent reward for the discovery 
of the missing lady, the friends of Astrea had passed their 
days in the slow heart wasting of “ hope deferred.” Every 
week they had received letters from Welby Dunbar report- 
ing no progress toward discovery. Once Madame de Glacie 
had got from Mrs. Greville a letter of condolence inviting 
her to come to New York. This invitation had been grate- 
fully declined. Upon another occasion, Colonel Greville 
had received from his step-mother a letter full of sympathy. 
This he answered in the spirit in which it was written. At 
last Captain Fuljoy got a little note from Ettie Burns, 
announcing her safe arrival in New York, and also the im- 
mediate departure of the whole family for New Orleans. 
The same mail brought a letter from Mr. Dunbar to Madame 
de Glacie confirming the news, and assuring her that he 
should take advantage of this journey to prosecute the 
search for her lost daughter. 

Since these last two letters the friends of Astrea had 
heard nothing more from their attorney or his party. Cap- 
tain Fuljoy, with the patient endurance of righteous old 
age, tried to bear up under this protracted anguish of sus- 
' 30 


482 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


pense ; but his friends perceived with sorrow that he failed 
every day. 

Colonel Greville, with the elasticity of youth, struggled 
long against the fatal effects of imprisonment and despair ; 
but at last he also succumbed to their power, and rapidly 
wasted away. 

Only Madame de Glacie, with the hope that “springs 
eternal,” in a woman’s breast at least, and the prophetic 
vision of a mother’s soul, kept up her spirits, and foretold 
the final success of the search. She went frequently from 
one of the sufferers to the other to cheer them up. 

Meanwhile, some modification of public opinion was going 
on. Some weeks had passed since the “ tragedy at Fuljoy’s 
Isle,” as the events of the bridal day there had been called, 
and the community had had time to recover from the first 
effects of their surprise, horror, and indignation. The guilt 
of Colonel Greville was no longer a matter of unquestiona- 
ble fact with everybody. Many seriously doubted his crim- 
inality. The conduct of Captain Fuljoy and the Marquise 
de Glacie, also had a good effect upon public sentiment. 
They did not believe Colonel Greville to be the murderer, 
or that any murder had been committed. On the contrary, 
they held their son-in-law in the highest possible esteem 
and affection, and they were convinced that the lost bride 
had been abducted by certain other parties. So, the good 
people of the country looked forward to the approaching 
trial as the only means by which they would ever be able 
to get the truth of this mysterious affair. 

The day of the trial arrived. From an early hour in the 
morning the court room was crowded by an eager audience. 
Judge Pemberton presided. At ten o’clock the prisoner, 
pale and haggard from long imprisonment and severe 
anxiety, and clothed in the gloomy habiliments of mourn- 
ing, was led into court. By his side, to sustain him by 
their presence, walked Madame de Glacie and Captain Ful- 
joy. This excited a buzz of conversation among the spec- 
tators. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


483 


“ Surely,” it was whispered, “ he cannot be guilty, or the 
mother and the guardian of the girl he is supposed to have 
murdered would not be here in attendance upon him.” 

“And look ! how affectionate their manner is to him I” 

“ This will have its effect upon the jury, in spite of all !” 

Meanwhile, the prisoner and his party advanced through 
the court. In that primitive country court room, there was 
no regular dock. The prisoner was accommodated with a 
chair in front of the bench, and among his own counsel. 
His manner was composed and dignified, but deeply sor- 
rowful. Madame de Glacie and Captain Fuljoy seated 
themselves — the one on his right hand, the other on his left. 

Madame de Glacie put her hand in his, and looked affec- 
tionately upon him from time to time. 

Captain Fuljoy sat back, with his hands resting upon the 
gold-headed cane that stood between his knees, his broad 
chest expanded, and his gray head erect, looking defiance 
at the court. 

Occasionally the counsel of the prisoner came and ex- 
changed a word with one or the other of the group. 

And thus they remained while the preliminaries of the 
trial were arranged. 

In criminal trials, in some cases, the evidence is so clear 
against the prisoner, that every one surely predicts his con- 
viction ; in others, it is so obscure that every one as surely 
anticipates his acquittal. And in neither of these cases is 
much anxiety felt by the public at large ; for they think 
that they know the result of the trial in advance. 

But there is a third class of cases, where the evidence is 
of that questionable character, in which it might be pre- 
vised that a harsh jury would convict, or a lenient one 
acquit the prisoner. 

Of this class was the case of Colonel Greville. The cir- 
cumstances that could be proved against him were so grave 
as to excite the most serious fears of his conviction should 
his jury happen to be a severe one ; while the rebutting 
testimony that could be brought forward in his favor was 


484 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

so strong as to raise the most lively hopes of his acquittal 
should his jury chance to be a charitable one. The effect 
of this uncertainty was to fill the minds of his friends with 
the deepest anxiety, and those of the public with the most 
eager curiosity. 

The preliminary arrangements being completed, the 
prisoner was arraigned in the usual manner, and pleaded, 
of course, “ Not Guilty.’’ 

“No, I’ll be d (I was going to say) if he is!” ex- 

claimed Captain Fuljoy, bringing down his gold-headed 
stick with an emphatic thump. 

The crier called “ Order !” and the business of the trial 
proceeded. 

The Stated attorney arose to open the indictment. He 
stood up with an air of modest assurance, of deferential con- 
fidence. His opening address was intended to be one of the 
finest specimens of forensic eloquence ever yet heard. He 
cleared his throat, looked around upon the spectators, 
down upon the prisoner, over to the jury box, up to the 
bench, and commenced : 

“ Your honor and gentlemen of the jury ! it becomes my 
painful duty to ” 

“Cast your e'e o'er this wee bit writing ,” said the Scotch 
bailiff, thrusting into his hands a folded paper that had 
been sent by the sheriff, who at this crisis entered the 
court room. 

The State’s attorney looked surprised and annoyed at 
the untimely interruption; but catching the eye of the 
sheriff, who was making his way through the crowded room 
toward the bench, and deeming a paper despatched by him 
at that moment of some importance, he frowningly opened 
and read the contents. 

The effect was marked. His face flushed up, he glanced 
quickly at the messenger, at the prisoner, at the jury, and 
then, with a short bow to the bench, turned suddenly and 
hastened to meet the sheriff, who was still slowly. advancing 
through the crowd. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 485 

The eyes of the whole assembly were upon the two. That 
something unusual had happened, or was about to happen, 
every one knew. The crowd fell back to facilitate the 
meeting of the two men. 

The prisoner and his party watched these proceedings 
with curiosity and interest. To the despairing every 
event brings hope — for their condition, that cannot be 
made worse, may be made better. Therefore it was with a 
vague hope that this nearly hopeless group gazed upon the 
meeting of the State’s attorney and the sheriff. 

The two last mentioned were now talking together in 
low, eager tones. After a short interview, they both ad- 
vanced toward the bench, and the State’s attorney spoke : 

“Your Honor, I beg leave to withdraw the charge 
against the prisoner at the bar, and enter a Nolle Prosequi. 
I hold in my hand an official despatch from the Mayor of 
New Orleans, announcing that the missing lady, Astrea 
Greville, is alive and well ” 

He was interrupted. 

With great cries of joy the prisoner and his friends 
started up, and threw themselves into each other’s arms ! 
The contagion spread. The audience was in a state of 
irrepressible excitement. 

There are crises in life when time, place, and conventional 
proprieties are all carried away in the tide of overwhelming 
emotion. For some moments no one thought to call the 
crowd to order. Nature had to take her way. Mean- 
while the judge was reading the official despatch. At 
length he spoke to the crier, who called out in a loud voice 
that rose above all the noise in the room : 

“ Silence in the court while his Honor gives judgment !” 

And silence fell like a spell upon the crowd. The judge 
then arose, and spoke : 

“ The prisoner is discharged from custody, and the court 
is adjourned.” And having said this, he descended from 
the bench, and warmly shook hands with Colonel Greville 
and Captain Fuljoy. 


486 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

The sheriff at the same moment came up, and placed the 
despatch in Colonel Greville’s hands, saying : 

“This document contains information about your wife 
which will be most interesting to her friends ; but with 
which the public at large have so little to do, that his 
Honor deemed it unnecessary to have it read aloud in 
open court ; the bare fact of her existence, proved before 
the authorities at New Orleans, being cause sufficient to 
justify your immediate discharge. Here is the paper ; and 
pray accept with it my warmest congratulations.” 

“And mine also ! though you have disappointed me of 
delivering one of the finest speeches I ever penned. How- 
ever, it will do quite as well, with a little alteration, for the 
next case,” said the State’s attorney. 

“ Thanks ! thanks ! But oh, tell me, is my wife really 
well and safe ?” 

“ Yes ; read for yourself.” 

Other friends were now crowding around Colonel Gre- 
ville with congratulations, that might have occupied him 
for the next three hours, had not Captain Fuljoy interfered 
by saying : 

“ Gentlemen, Madame de Glacie is in need of repose and 
refreshment after all this fatigue and excitement. Permit us 
to take leave of you and attend her from the court room.” 

And with a deep bow the gallant old sailor took leave of 
his friends, gave his arm to Madame de Glacie, and led her 
forth. Colonel Greville attended them, followed by the 
good wishes of all his friends. 

They walked back to the inn, where Captain Fuljoy and 
the Marquise de Glacie had taken lodgings. And after a 
slight refreshment, during which Captain Fuljoy’s carriage 
was brought around, they set out for the island ; only to 
spend one night, however. 

That afternoon and evening was employed in hasty pre- 
parations for their journey. 

The next morning they hoisted the red flag, to telegraph 
the Busy Bee as she passed ; took their passage upon her, 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 487 

and in due time arrived at Baltimore, and set out by the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for St. Louis, where they 
embarked upon the steamboat “ Southern Queen” for New 
Orleans. 


CHAPTER LXI. 
all’s well that ends well. 

Ah, loveliest, if the measure of thy joy 

Be heaped like mine, and that thy skill be more 

To emblazon it, then sweeten with thy breath 

This neighbor air, and let rich man’s tongue 

Unfold the imagined happiness, that both 

Receive in either, by this dear encounter. — Shakespeare. 

It was a glorious afternoon in early autumn. Mrs. 
Greville and her family had returned to the old plantation 
house, and were now out upon the front piazza to enjoy 
the cool and balmy air of evening, and gaze upon the golden 
refulgence of the setting sun and the silvery radiance of the 
rising moon. The softness of the hour and the beauty of 
the scene inclined them all to a luxurious pensiveness. 

Lois and Welby arose and walked side by side, slowly 
up and down the lawn in front of the piazza, talking in a 
low tone, and doubtlessly discussing their future prospects. 
Mrs. Greville reclined in an easy chair, and Ettie Burns sat 
upon a cushion at her feet. Mrs. Greville’s white and 
jewelled fingers were straying idly among the shining black 
ringlets of Ettie’s little head, as it lay lazily upon her lap. 

Astrea sat apart at one end of the piazza, absorbed in 
reverie. Astrea was now, perhaps, more beautiful than she 
had ever been in her life before. Her complexion was 
blooming with health, her eyes beaming with hope, her 
hair clustering in short bright curls around her brow, which 
was fair as snow. She wore a dress of fresh rose-colored 
barege, trimmed with fine lace, and a necklace of pearls en- 
circled her throat. She was occupied with thoughts too 


488 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


happy and too sacred, to be shared with any one. There- 
fore she sat apart in silence. She was daily expecting the 
arrival of her husband, her guardian, and “ last, but not 
least,” the mother with whose existence she had been but so 
recently made acquainted. She had been thus expecting 
them for several days ; but expectation had not as 3^et had 
time to become anxiety. She was even now anticipating 
their arrival on this very evening. 

Her happy reverie was at length interrupted by Yenus, 
who, since she had been raised to the dignity of “ lady 
maid,” had diligently performed the duties of her office. 
Yenus now came out resplendent in a silver-gray silk dress, 
a white muslin apron trimmed with embroidery, and a lace 
cap, with cherry-colored satin ribbons flying a yard and a half 
behind her. She held in her hand a fan of marabout 
feathers, which, with an air of much importance, she offered 
to her mistress. 

But just at this moment a sound of carriage wheels drew 
every one’s attention from Yenus and her graces. 

Mrs. Greville pushed Ettie’s little black head almost 
abruptly from her lap, as she arose to look out. 

Lois and Welby paused in their walk and talk, and gazed 
up the avenue. 

Astrea started from her seat and fixed her eyes with de- 
vouring interest upon the approaching carriage. 

It was a very capacious carriage, drawn by two strong 
horses, and having much luggage piled up behind and on top 
of it. As it drew near they saw that it contained a lady, an old 
gentleman and a young one. There could be no mistaking 
the party ! 

“ They have come ! They have come !” exclaimed Astrea, 
in the clear, ringing tones of joy, nearly upsetting Yenus 
and her streamers, as she sprung past and flew out to meet 
her friends. 

In another moment the carriage had drawn up, Colonel 
Greville had alighted, and Astrea was folded in the arms 
of her husband. Great jo}^ like great sorrow has but one 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 489 

vent — tears ! Astrea burst into a flood of tears, and sobbed 
convulsively upon liis bosom. 1 

And while Colonel Greville held her there, murmuring 
inarticulate words of love and comfort ; and while Captain 
Fuljoy and Madame de Glacie impatiently awaited their own 
turn to be kissed and cried over, Mrs. Greville advanced 
with an open hand and smiling face to receive her guests. 

Captain Fuljoy shook hands with his old acquaintance, 
complimented her on her youth and beauty, and then begged 
leave to present his friend, Madame de Glacie. 

Mrs. Greville greeted the foreign lady with great cordial- 
ity, took her affectionately by the hand and led her up to 
the piazza. 

Then Ettie Burns sprang forward, exclaiming : 

“And now I won’t wait a minute longer for anybody ! 
Here I am, Captain Fuljoy I here is your own little Ettie 
again. You know I couldn’t live without you, and that is 
the reason you have come 1” 

The old sailor, smiling broadly, raised Ettie in his arms 
and kissed her, saying : 

“If it had not been for you, Astrea might never have 
been found.” 

“No, I am worth ten attornies, am I not ?” 

Meanwhile Colonel Greville, having breathed many tender 
words into the ears of his wife and dried her tears, now 
whispered : 

“ My sweet Astrea, here is your mother waiting so pa- 
tiently to embrace you ! Turn to her, dearest !” 

And Astrea, with a vivid blush, withdrew herself from 
the arms of her husband, and sank into the outstretched 
ones of her mother, exclaiming : 

“ Mother, dearest mother, it is deep joy to meet you ! 
Oh, do not think that your child is unloving, or undutiful, 
because — because ” 

“ Because she first saw only her husband ! I do not, my 
darling. I remember your father, Astrea. And now, my 
child, here is another who is longing to greet you— one who 


490 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

has filled a parent’s place in your life, and to whom half your 
filial love and duty is due,” said the lady, gently lifting her 
daughter’s head, and directing her attention to Captain 
Fuljoy. 

“Ah, my dear guardian ! my dear, dear guardian ! did 
you think I could forget you for an instant !” exclaimed 
Astrea, turning to him. 

The old sailor received and pressed her to his great heart, 
murmuring : 

“ No, my little Daney ! I feel always sure that while you 
live you will love the old man. God bless you, my child ! 
God love you !” 

Mrs. Courtney Greville advanced with a smile and offered 
her hand to her step-son, saying : 

“After all these years of misapprehension and estrange- 
ment, my dear Fulke, I am happy to believe that we are 
friends at last.” 

“ Forever, my dear Madam !” answered Colonel Greville, 
raising her hand to his lips. 

Mrs. Greville then led the way into the house, and ordered 
her servants to attend her guests to their several chambers. 

When the latter had changed their travelling dresses, 
they re-assembled in the front parlor, where the tea-table 
was spread. 

Here they were joined by Welby Dunbar, who was, for 
the first time, presented to his counterpart, Fulke Greville. 
The meeting of these two men, whose accidental resem- 
blance to each other was so great, called up first a look of 
wonder upon each face, and then a burst of laughter from 
each pair of lungs, which was caught up and echoed by the 
whole circle. 

“ You do not wonder now at the great mistake of years, 
Fulke ?” inquired Mrs. Courtney Greville. 

“ No,” laughed the Colonel. 

“ I tell you what, maiden aunt,” said Ettie Burns, “ you 
will have to tie a badge upon Uncle Welby ’s arm, so as to 
distinguish your sweetheart from Astrea’s husband 1” 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


491 


1 1 shall trust to no such device, Ettie ! He might easily 
get rid of that! Ho, I shall do better than that ! I shall 
have an iron collar, with the owner’s name on it, soldered 
around his neck.” 

11 Capital,” said Ettie, clapping her hands with glee ; 
“and be sure to add this line: ‘I’m Lois Howard’s dog; 
whose dog are you V ” 

“ Ettie !” sa^id Mrs. Courtney Greville, severely. 

“ Splendid grandmamma, if you scold me before folks, 
Ell — eat fish with a knife /” 

This produced another peal of laughter, for people are 
easily amused when they are happy. 

“ You are quite incorrigible, Ettie,” said the lady. But 
her rebuke was lost in the sounds of mirth, amid which 
they all gathered around the tea-table. 

After tea there were mutual explanations. Astrea was 
called upon to relate her adventures for the satisfaction of 
her husband, mother, and guardian. She softened as much 
as possible her story of wrong and suffering, yet it was 
heard with the deepest grief and indignation. To chase 
away the gloomy feelings left by Astrea ’s narrative, Welby 
Dunbar was requested to relate his experience as a fish boy. 
His story had the effect of a farce following a melo-drama. 
Peals of laughter greeted his description of his arrest for 
the crime of oyster-crying ; his trial by the court of school- 
masters ; and his condemnation to wealth for life ! 

The happiness in the parlor spread to the kitchen. 

Upon the strength of it, old Aunt Cybele roasted some 
apples, and old Uncle Saturn made a bowl of apple-toddy. 

Venus condescended to sip a little. 

But poor Sam ! Ever since Venus had cast her shell, 
and fluttered forth such a “ splendiferous” butterfly, poor 
Sam had been taken in and almost done for ! Like the 
humblest spaniel, he had followed her about, watching her, 
waiting on her, fetching and carrying for her, worshipping 
her, and yet never daring so much as to breathe his admira- 
tion. 


492 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

But upon this auspicious evening, when his heart was 
merry with the contagious merriment of the family, when 
his soul was valiant with apple-toddy, and his head was 
turned by his charmer’s silver-gray dress and cherry-col- 
ored streamers, he took advantage of the first moment that 
he happened to be left alone with Venus, popped down on 
both his knees before her, clasped his hands, turned up the 
whites of his eyes, and prayed to her to marry him imme- 
diately, because he could not wait ! 

Venus was outrageous. She cast upon him an annihi- 
lating look, exclaiming : 

“ Go ’way from here, nigger ! You done took leave o’ 
your woolly head senses, ain’t you? Who’s you a talkin’ 
to, sar? I’ll hab you to know, sar, I’m a lady maid. And 
do you think when I can be a lady maid, and w T ear fine 
clothes, and wait on Mrs. Full Grebille, who is a beautiful 
young lady, as how I’m a gwine to demean myself wid get- 
ting married, to be a slave to a great big ugly man ? 
’Deed you is sick if you think dat !” 

How much more scorn Venus might have poured out 
upon her unlucky admirer can never be known, had not 
Aunt Cybele and Uncle Saturn just then returned to the 
kitchen. They caught sight of Sam just as he sprang up 
from his knees. 

“ Hi, what de matter long ’o he ?” cried the old man. 

“ Hey I what Sam been a doin’ of?” asked the old woman. 

“ Say in’ of his prayers ! He turned good all of a sud- 
den,” said Venus, with a toss of her head, as she left the 
kitchen, to light up her mistress’s bedroom. 

Meanwhile, in the parlor, the mutual explanations having 
all been made, and laughed at or cried over to their heart’s 
content, our party of reunited friends freely discussed their 
future plans. 

Captain Fuljoy and Colonel Greville wished to return 
immediately to Fuljoy ’s Isle, where, in the bosom of her 
family, Astrea might enjoy that complete repose which the 
excitements of her late life seemed to render so advisable. 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 493 

But at length they yielded to the entreaties of Mrs. Gre- 
ville, and consented to wait to be present at the marriage of 
Welby Dunbar and Lois Howard, which was to be cele- 
brated on the first of the ensuing month. 

With this agreement, they separated for the night. 

According to the programme, on the first of October 
Welby and Lois were married. Upon account of recent 
events, the wedding was a very quiet one. The ceremony 
was performed at ten o’clock in the morning, in the draw- 
ing-room of the old plantation house. The Reverend Mr. 
Palmer officiated ; Ettie Burns was the only bridemaid ; 
Captain Fuljoy was the groomsihan ; Colonel Greville gave 
away the bride ; and Mrs. Courtney Greville presided at 
the marriage breakfast that followed, and at which only the 
members of the family and the officiating clergyman were 
present. 

Immediately after breakfast, the really “ happy pair” set 
out in a handsome travelling carriage for New Orleans, 
whence they intended to take the first steamer for Demerara. 
The reason of this was, that they had exhausted the old 
world, or at least grown tired of it ; and it was too late in 
the autumn to think of carrying out their first purpose of 
travelling through Canada; so they had determined, by 
way of a change, to make a tour of South America. 

At most weddings there is only one person to be deeply 
pitied — the bride’s mother, left at home. All, no matter how 
prosperously she may have married off her daughter, or how 
well she may like her son-in-law, it is all the same ! Out 
from the door, with her departing daughter, has gone her 
heart — and her bosom is emptied of its life 1 

Mrs. Courtney Greville was a practised woman of the 
world. Smilingly she had looked upon the marriage rites, 
and presided at the wedding breakfast. Smilingly she had 
received the parting embrace of Welby, and kissed Lois, 
who was also smiling through her tears — like a burst of 
sunshine through April rain. 

But when the carriage had rolled away, and she had re- 


494 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

turned to the desolate house, she sank down into the nearest 
chair, overcome, pallid, gasping — too agonized for tears — 
her wrung bosom only making this low moan : 

“ Oh, pitying Saviour ! how much, from first to last, even 
the happiest mother must suffer 1” 

Old Captain Fuljoy heard and saw all this, and — could 
not stand it ! He seized his hat and exclaimed : 

“ I’ll go and fetch ’em back — I’ll saddle Saladin and 
ride after ’em! I’ll overtake ’em before they get to the 
toll-gate ! I’ll make ’em turn the horses’ heads and come 

right home again ! I won’t have it ! D (I was going 

to say) — this way of making everybody else miserable be- 
cause they are happy !” 

“ Stay ! you would not do such a thing ! You must not, 
not for the world ! They must do what society requires of 
them — a bridal tour is an imperative necessity. This is 
nothing but morbid feeling in me — a weakness that I must 
shake off. Lois and Welby, the beings dearest to me in 
the world, are happy ; and I will be happy 1” said Mrs. 
Greville, rising, and dropping her grief as she might have 
dropped her black mantle. 

“ That is right, splendid grandmamma ! paleness doesn’t 
become your complexion at all!” said Ettie. 

“ My poor little pet ! you also will be leaving me some 
day.” 

“ Never, splendid gradmamma ! not for all the husbands 
in the world — oh ! I mean unless my dear old captain asks 
me. I would not refuse him — no, indeed, indeed, wouldn’t 
I !” said Ettie, earnestly. 

“ There, Captain Fuljoy, you have had an offer !” smiled 
Mrs. Greville. 

“ Yes, and from the dearest little darling in the world. 
But, Ettie, my child, I am already married, although you 
don’t know it — I have a wife in Heaven ! She has been 
waiting for me there these many years. And besides, Ettie 
dear, I am above eighty years old ; that is at least sixty 
years too old for you ; and it would be a great wrong for 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


495 


me to take yon at your word,” replied the honest old sailor, 
who evidently took Ettie’s offer very seriously. 

“ That is a pity, now, for I shall be an old maid 1” she said. 

This little badinage made a diversion of Mrs. Courtney 
Greville ’s ideas, so that she did not fall into dejection again 
that day. 

And the next day she had business enough to occupy her 
thoughts. Captain Fuljoy and his party had decided to 
stay at the old plantation house with Mrs. Greville until 
she had settled up the business that had brought her to the 
South, and then the whole party were to go together to the 
North, and Mrs. Greville was to remain their guest at Ful- 
joy’s Island until the return of her son and daughter, when 
the three last named would proceed to New York and take 
up their residence at the house in Madison Square. Welby 
Dunbar, previous to his marriage and departure, had put 
his mother’s affairs in such good train that little remained 
to be done. The plantation was sold ; the negroes upon the 
estate were emancipated ; those who were willing to emi- 
grate, were sent to Liberia ; those who were disabled by age 
or sickness, were provided for; Uncle Saturn and Aunt 
Cybele were made happy with a cottage, a garden, a cow, 
and some poultry ; and those who wished to remain in the 
neighborhood to get their own living, were recommended to 
good employers. All but Sam ! That luckless lover could 
not make up his chaotic mind to any measure. To use 
Uncle Saturn’s expression for this perverse course — “ Sam 
would neither gee, woa, nor come hither !” The last day 
of their stay at the old plantation house came — they were 
to depart the next morning. Driven to desperation, Sam 
was also goaded to action — he followed the old captain 
until he found him alone, and then, going down on both his 
knees, with clasped hands, and upraised eyes, and stream- 
ing tears, he said : 

“ Cap’n Full-ob-joy, sar, have massy on me, who is full 
ob grief! I knows how you’re a tender-hearted gem’n an’ 
wouldn’t like to see me hung up by de neck till I is dead !” 


496 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


“ What the d — 1 (I was going to say) have you done to 
get yourself hung, you wretched boy ?” asked the captain, 
in alarm. 

“ Nuffin, sar ; I is in lub wid Wenus ! An’ ef I don’t get 
Wenus, I shall hang myse’f on de fus’ tree I can fine !” 

“ Oh ! that’s it J Well, my poor boy, what can I do for 
you ?” inquired the kind old man, whose heart was open to 
the humblest or absurdest cry of distress. 

“ Oh, Marse Cap’n 1 sar, I does want to go along o’ Wenus 
so bad ! an’ ef you would only take me along as your ser- 
vant, sar, I wouldn’t want no wages, sar, nor no nuffin ; but 
only to be along o’ Wenus ! My life lay in Wenus, sar, 
’deed it do, an’ ef Wenus go, my life go!” 

“ Well, does Yenus like you?” 

“ No, sar ; not as yet ! ’pears like she hates me on de 
yeth ; she can’t bide de sight o’ me !” 

“ Then, why the d — 1 (I was going to say) do you run 
after her? Let her go; and you look after some other 
girl.” 

“ Oh, Marse Cap’n, sar, ’taint no use, sar ! Dere aint no 
gall in de whole country as wear sich caps an’ sich ribbins 
as Wenus wear ! An’ my life lay in her, sar !” 

“ In her caps, you mean, you great blockhead ! She set 
her caps at you ! what captivating caps they must be, to be 
sure !” 

“ Dey is, sar ; dey jes is ! an’ likewise de red ribbins — 
which dey is sometimes rosy an’ sometimes cherry ; an’ den 
de little white ap’ons, an’ de balorals, an’ oh, de lace’-up 
boots ! When I thinks of ’em all, an’ how dere a-goin’ to 
leabe me, I has a chokin’ in my t’roat ! Oh, marse, for 
massy sake, don't ’fuse me ob going along o’ Wenus.” 

“ But what is the use of your going with Yenus if she 
won’t look at you?” 

“ Oh, sar, ’cause I knows, how ef I keeps on a-keepin ’ on , 
she can’t hold out forever ! If I don’t get tired and stop, 
she’ll have to turn an’ give in ! An’ if so be you will only 


THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 


497 


take me as your sarvent, an’ I libs in de same family wid 
her, I will keep on, an’ I won’t get tired, nor likewise stop 
till I get her ” 

“And her caps! Well, my boy, such an earnest lover as 
yourself should be encouraged. And though I have got 
as many servants at home as I can possibly employ, yet — 
well, yes, I will take you, also.” 

“ ’Loramity bless you, sar ! Now, den, I shall get 
Wenus, I’ll be shot if I don’t 1” cried Sam, jumping up, 
beside himself with joy. 

Shortly after this happy arrangement of Sam’s with the 
captain, the whole party set out for the North, and in due 
time, after the usual vicissitudes of travel, arrived safe and 
well at Fuljoy’s Island, where they were in a couple of 
months joined by Welby and Lois, who returned healthy 
and happy from their South American trip. 

Early in the New Year, Mrs. Courtney Greville and Mr. 
and Mrs. Welby Dunbar returned to their home in New York. 

Upon their arrival they met an important event. A 
pirate had been captured after a sharp action with one of 
our sloops-of-war, in which most of her crew had been 
killed. Her captain, who was severely wounded, had been 
brought into port and lodged in the Tombs, to await 
his trial. Welby Dunbar was solicited to defend him, but 
he declined the brief. This man, who proved to be Mer- 
rick, the slaver captain, soon afterward died of his wounds 
in the prison. Before death he made a full confession, dis- 
closing both his crimes and his confederates. Among the 
crimes he mentioned his first abduction of Astrea de Glacie 
as an infant, in which he was assisted by the Marquis de 
Glacie and the Irish Druries ; and his second abduction of 
Astrea Greville, the bride, in which he was assisted by the 
French actress Yictorine and his own pirate crew. His con- 
fession led to the eventual apprehension and punishment of 
all these malefactors, with the exception of the Marquis 
de Glacie, who escaped the gallies by dying of diptheria. 

31 

> 


498 THE FORTUNE SEEKER. 

After the demise of her brother-in-law, Madame de Glacie 
put all her estates situated in Italy and France into the 
hands of a responsible agent., and took up her permanent 
abode at Fuljoy ’s Island. 

There Captain Fuljoy, Colonel Greville, Astrea, and 
Madame de Glacie live together, forming one united and 
happy family. Captain Fuljoy has purchased Burnstop, 
and assigned it as a residence to the two old maiden ladies, 
Miss Mehitable Powers and Miss Priscilla Pinchett, whom 
he has pensioned off. These two, being perfect opposites 
in every possible respect, fit well into each other’s charac- 
ters, and live together in great harmony. For instance, 
little Miss Pinchy loves to command, while big Miss Hit 
loves to obey. Miss Pinchy has a quick temper, Miss Hit 
a slow one ; Miss Pinchy likes to stir about, Miss Hit to sit 
still; consequently, Miss Pinchy does the housekeeping, 
and Miss Hit the sewing ; finally, Miss Pinchy likes to talk 
and Miss Hit to listen ; therefore they agree so perfectly 
well that all who know them say that it is a great pity one 
had not been a man and the other a woman, so that they 
might have married, and set an example of conjugal har- 
mony to the whole world. 

But if this marriage cannot take place others can ; for 
the very latest intelligence received from Fuljoy’s Island 
announced that the constancy of Sam had conquered the 
coldness of Yenus, and that they were to be united in the 
holy bonds of matrimony the coming Easter. 

And the last letter from Mrs. Courtney Greville informed 
us of the engagement of Ettie Burns to a talented young 
lawyer, who is going into partnership with Welby Dunbar, 
who is pursuing his professional business with untiring in- 
dustry and eminent success. 


THE END. 


CHEAPER r BOOK HOUSE IN THE WORLD, 


T. B, PETERSON BROTHERS, 

306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Penna., 

Publish the most Saleable Books in the World, and Supply all 
Books at the Lowest Rates. 

Now Books issued every week, comprising the most entertaining and 
Absorbing works published, suitable for the Parlor, Library, Steamboat, 
ind Railroad Reading, by the best writers in the world. 

Any person wanting any books at all, in any quantity, from a single 
book, to a dozen, hundred, thousand, or larger quantity, had better send 
on their orders to the “ PUBLISHING AND BOOKSELLING HOUSE 
of T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS,” No. 306 Chestnut Street, Phil- 
adelphia, who publish over One Thousand Books, and have the largest 
stock in the country, and will sell them at very favorable prices for 
net cash. We have just issued a new and complete descriptive Cata- 
logue, as well as Wholesale Price Lists, which we will send to any 
Bookseller or Library on application. 

Enclose five, ten, twenty, fifty or a hundred dollars, or more, to us in 
a letter, and write what kind of books you wish, and on its receipt, they 
will be packed and sent to you, per first express or mail, or in any other 
way you may direct, with circulars, show-bills, etc., gratis. 

Orders solicited from Libraries, Booksellers, Private Families, etc. 
Address all Cash orders, retail and wholesale, to 

T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 306 Chestnut Street, Fhilada. 


CHARLES DICKENS’ WORKS. 

Cheap edition , paper cover. 

This edition is published complete in twenty-six large octavo voL 
umes, in paper cover, as follows : 


Our Mutual Friend, $1.00 

Great Expectations, 75 

Lamplighter’s Story, 75 

David Copperfield, 75 

Dombey and Son, 75 

Nicholas Nickleby, 75 

Pickwick Papers,... 75 

Christmas Stories, 75 

Martin Chuzzlewit, 75 

Old Curiosity Shop,.. 75 

Barnaby Rudge,. 75 

Dickens’ New Stories, 75 

Bleak House, 75 


Sketches by “Boz,” 75 

Oliver Twist, 75 

Little Dorrit, 75 

Tale of Two Cities, 75 

New Years’ Stories, 75 

Dickens’ Short Stories, 75 

Message from the Sea, 75 

Holiday Stories, 75 

American Notes, 75 

Pic Nic Papers, 75 

Somebody’s Luggage 25 

Tom Tiddler’s Ground, 25 

The Haunted House, 25 


Iglf Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


1 


2 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 


CHARLES DICKENS’ WORKS. 

ILLUSTRATED OCTAVO EDITION. 
Each booh being complete in one volume. 


David Copperfield, .....* Cloth, $2.50 

Barnaby Rudge, .Cloth, 2.50 

Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 2.50 

Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 2.50 

Christmas Stories, Cloth, 2.50 

Dickens’ New Stories, ...Cloth, 2.50 
A Tale of Two Cities, ...Cloth, 2.5 <? 
American Notes and Pic-Nic 
Papers, Cloth, 2.50 


Our Mutual Triend, Cloth, $2.50 

Pickwick Papers, ..Cloth, 2.50 

Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 2.50 

Great Expectations, Cloth, 2.50 

Lamplighter’s Story,. ...Cloth, 2.50 

Oliver Twist, Cloth, 2.50 

Bleak House, ....Cloth, 2.50 

Little Dorrit, Cloth, 2.50 

Dombey and Son, Cloth, 2.50 

Sketches by “ Boz,” Cloth, 2.50 

Price of a set, in Black cloth, in eighteen volumes $44.00 

u “ Full Law Library style 53.00 

“ “ Half calf, sprinkled edges 63.00 

“ *• Half calf, marbled edges 68.00 

** “ Half calf, antique 78.00 

“ ** Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 78.00 

PEOPLE’S DUODECIMO EDITION. 

Each booh being complete in one volume. 


Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $2.50 

Pickwick Papery Cloth, 2.50 

Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 2.50 

Great Expectations, Cloth, 2.50 

Lamplighter’s Story, ...Cloth, 2.50 

David Copperfield, Cloth, 2.50 

Oliver Twist, Cloth, 2.50 

Bleak House, Cloth, 2.50 

A Tale of Two Cities. ..Cloth, 2.50 
Dickens’ New Stories, ..Cloth, 2.50 


Little Dorrit, Cloth, $2.50 

Dombey and Son, Cloth, 2.50 

Christmas Stories, Cloth, 2.50 

Sketches by “Boz,” Cloth, 2.50 

Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 2.50 

Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 2.50 

Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 2.50 

Dickens’ Short Stories, .Cloth, 2.50 
Message from the Sea, ..Cloth, 2.50 


Price of a set, in Black cloth, in eighteen volumes $44.00 

“ " Full Law Library style 50.00 

“ “ Half calf, sprinkled edges 60.00 

** “ Half calf, marbled edges 65.00 

“ “ Half calf, antique 72.00 

u “ Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 72.00 

ILLUSTRATED DUODECIMO EDITION. 

Each booh being complete in two volumes. 


Our Mutual Friend, Cloth, $4.00 

Pickwick Papers, Cloth, 4.00 

Tale of Two Cities, Cloth, 4.00 

Nicholas Nickleby, Cloth, 4.00 

David Copperfield, Cloth, 4.00 

Oliver Twist, Cloth, 4.00 

Christmas Stories, Cloth, 4.00 


Bleak House, Cloth, $4.00 

Sketches by “Boz,” Cloth, 4.00 

Barnaby Rudge, Cloth, 4.00 

Martin Chuzzlewit, Cloth, 4.00 

Old Curiosity Shop, Cloth, 4.00 

Little Dorrit, Cloth, 4.00 

Dombey and Son, Cloth, 4.00 


The following are each complete in one volume. 

Great Expectations, Cloth, $2.50 I Dickens’ New Stories, ..Cloth, $2.50 

Lamplighter’s Story, ....Cloth, 2.50 I Message from the Sea,. Cloth, 2.50 

Price c p a set, in thirty-two volumes, bound in cloth, $64.00 

“ “ Full Law Library style 80.00 

u “ Half calf, antique 125.00 

“ “ Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 125.00 


Q9 1 Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 3 


CHARLES DICKENS’ WORKS. 

LIBRARY OCTAVO EDITION, IN NINE VOLUMES. 

This edition is in NINE large octavo volumes, with a Portrait of 
Charles Dickens, containing all of his writings in the nine volumes, hand- 
somel printed and profusely illustrated, and bound in the fallowing va- 


rious.^ tyles. ’ ( A New Edition in Press.) 

Price of a set, in Black Cloth, in nine volumes $26.00 

“ “ Law Library style 31.00 

u “ Half calf, sprinkled edges 33.00 

“ “ Half calf, marbled edges 36.00 

« “ Half'calf, antique 46.00 

« “ Half calf, full gilt backs, etc 45.00 


G. W. M. REYNOLDS’ WORKS. 


Rose Foster, 1 50 

Mysteries of Court of London,.. 1 00 

Caroline of Brunswick, 1 00 

Venetia Trelawney, 1 00 

Lord Saxondale, 1 00 

Count Christoval, 1 00 

Rosa Lambert, 1 00 

The above are in paper cover, or i 

The Opera Dancer, 75 

The Ruined Gamester, 50 

Child of Waterloo, 75 

Ciprina; or, Secrets of a Pic- 
ture Gallery, 50 

Robert Bruce, 75 

Discarded Queen, 50 

The Gipsey Chief, 75 

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots,... 75 

Wallace, Hero of Scotland, 75 

Isabella Vincent, 75 

Vivian Bertram, 75 

Countess of Lascelles, 75 


Mary Price, 1 00 

Eustace Quentin, ] 00 

Joseph Wilmot, 1 00 

Banker’s Daughter, 1 00 

Kenneth, 1 00 

The Rye-House Plot, I 00 

The Necromancer, 1 00 

j^ploth, price $2.00 each. 

The Soldier’s Wife, 75 

May Middleton,.. 75 

Duke qf March mnnt, 75 

Massacre of Glencoe, 75 

Queen Joanna; Court Naples, 75 

Loves of the Harem, 50 

Ellen Percy, 75 

Agnes Evelyn, 75 

Pickwick Abroad, 75 

Parricide, 75 

Life in Paris, 50 

Countess and the Page, 50 

Edgar Montrose, 50 


ALEXANDER DUMAS’ WORKS. 


Count of Monte Cristo,.... 

The Iron Mask, 

Louise La Valliere, 

Adventures of a Marquis,, 

Diana of Meridor, 

The Three Guardsmen,.... 

Twenty Years After, 

Bragelonne, 

The Conscript, 


1 50 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
75 
75 
75 
1 50 


Memoirs of a Physician, 

Queen’s Necklace, 

Six Years Later, 

Countess of Charney,.... 
Andree de Taverney,.... 

The Chevalier, 

Forty-five Guardsmen,.. 

The Iron Hand, 

Camille, 


The above are in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. 


Edmond Dantes, 

George, 

Felina de Chambure,...., 
The Horrors of Paris,... 
Annette, Lady of Pearls, 
The Fallen Angel, 


75 

50 

75 

50 

50 

75 


Sketches in France, 

Isabel of Bavaria,..,.... 
Mohicans of Paris,,.... 
Man with Five Wives, 
Twin Lieutenants, 


1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
1 00 
75 
75 
1 50 


75 

75 

50 

75 

75 


Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


4 T. B PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 


MRS SOUTHWORTH’S WORKS. 


Allworth Abbey 1 50 

The Bridal Eve, 1 50 

The Fatal Marriage, 1 50 

Love’s Labor Wou, 1 50 

Deserted Wife, 1 50 

The Gipsy’s Prophecy, 1 50 

The Mother-in-Lavr, 1 50 

Haunted Homestead, 1 50 

The Lost Heiress, ... 1 50 

Lady of the Isle, 1 50 

The Two Sisters, 1 50 

The Three Beauties, 1 50 

Vivia; Secret Power, 1 50 

The Missing Bride, 1 50 

Wife’s Victory, 1 50 

The above are in paper cover, or 

Hickory Hall, 50 


Retribution, 

India. Pearl of Pearl ltiver,, 

Curse of Clifton, 

Discarded Daughter, 

The Initials, 

The Jealous Husband,... 

Self-Sacrifice, 

Belle of Washington, 

Kate Aylesford, 

Courtship and Matrimony, 

Family Pride, 

Family Secrets, 

Rose Douglas, 

The Lover’s Trials 

in cloth, price $2.00 each. 

| Broken Engagement, 


1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
l 50 

1 50 
1 50 
1 56 
1 50 
1 

1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 


25 


CAROLINE LEE HENTZ’S WORKS. 


The Planter’s Northern Bride,.. 1 50 


Linda, 1 6% 

Robert Graham, 1 50 

Courtship and Marriage, 1 50 

Ernest Linwood, 1 50 

Rena; or, the Snow-bird, 1 50 

Marcus Warland, 1 50 

The Lost Daughter, 1 50 

Love after Marriage, 1 50 


Eoline, 

Forsaken Daughter,, 
The Banished Son,.. 
Helen and Arthur,... 
Planter’s Daughter,, 

Beautiful Widow, 

Brother’s Secret, 

The Matchmaker 


The above are in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. 


FREDRIKA BREMER’S WORKS. 


1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 


Father and Daughter, 1 50 I The Neighbors, 1 50 

The Four Sisters, 1 50 I The Home, 1 5t 

The above are in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. 

Life in the Old World; or, Two Years in Switzerland and Italy, by Miss 
Bremer, in two volumes, cloth, price, $4.00 


MRS. ANN S. STEPHENS’ WORKS. 


Silent Struggles, 


50 

The Heiress, 


The Wife’s Seeret, 

1 

50 

Fashion and Famine, 


Tho Rejected Wife, 


50 

Mary Derwent, 

.... 1 50 

The Old Homestead, 


50 



The above are in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. 


CATHARINE SINCLAIR’S WORKS. 


Flirtations in Fashionable Life, 1 50 


The Rival Belles, 1 50 

The Lost Love, 1 50 

The Woman in Black, 1 50 

The Pride of Life, 1 50 


The Devoted Bride, 

Love and Duty, 

Bohemians in London, 

High Life in Washington, 


The above are in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. 


1 50 
1 50 
1 50 
1 50 


Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 5 


CHARLES LEVER’S WORKS. 

Arthur O’Leary, 75 

Con Cregan, 75 

Davenport Dunn, 75 

Horace Templeton, 75 

Kate O’Donoghue, 75 

Above are in paper, or in cloth, price $2.00 a volume. 


Charles O’Malley, 


Harry Lorrequer, 


Jack Hinton, 


Tom Burke of Ours, 

75 

Knight of Gwynne* 



Ten Thousand a Year, paper,... 1 50 
Ten Thousand a Year, cloth,... 2 00 


The Diary of a Medical Stu- 
dent 


76 


DOESTICKS’ WORKS. 


The Elephant Club,....,, 1 60 

Witches of New York, 1 50 


Doesticks* Letters, 1 50 

Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah, 1 50 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth for $2.00 each. 

WAR NOVELS. BY HENRY MOREORD. 

The Coward, 1 50 I Days of Shoddy, 1 50 

Shoulder-Straps, 1 50 I 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each. 

BEST COOK BOOKS PUBLISHED. 

Mrs. Goodfellow’s Cookery as it should be 2 

Petersons’ New Cook Book, 2 

Miss Leslie’s New Cookery Book,... 2 

Widdifield’s New Cook Book, 2 

Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million, 2 

Miss Leslie’s New Receipts for Cooking, 2 

Mrs. Hale’s New Cook Book, 2 

Francatelli’s Celebrated Cook Book. The Modern Cook, with 62 
illustrations, 600 large octavo pages, 5 

GREEN’S WORKS ON GAMBLING. 


Gambling Exposed, 1 50 

The Gambler’s Life, 1 50 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for 

MRS. HENRY WOOD’S BOOKS. 


The Reformed Gambler, 1 60 

Secret Band of Brothers, 1 50 

.00 each. 


Mildred Arkell, 1 50 

Lord Oakburn’s Daughters ; or, 

the Earl’s Heirs, 1 50 

Squire Trevlyn's Heir ; or, 

Trevlyn Hold, 1 50 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for 


The Castle’s Heir, 1 50 

Shadow of Ashlydyat, 1 50 

Oswald Cray, 1 50 

Verner’s Pride, 1 50 


2.00 each. 


Red Court Farm, 75 

The Runaway Match, 50 

The Mystery, 75 


The Lost Bank Note,. 75 

A Life’s Secret, 50 

Better for Worse, 75 


Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.00 each. 

Tho Channings, ,.. 1 00 | Aurora Floyd, 75 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $1.50 eaoh. 


The Lost Will, and the Dia- 
mond Bracelet, 50 

The Haunted Tower, 50 


Foggy Night at Offord,... 25 

The Lawyer’s Secret, 25 

William Allair, 25 


lg§$" Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


6 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 


The Prairie Flower, 

75 

The Indian Scout, 

75 

The Trail Hunter, 

75 

The Indian Chief, 

i 75 

The Red Track, 

75 


GUSTAVE AIMARD’S WORKS. 

Pirates of the Prairies, 75 

Trapper’s Daughter, 75 

The Tiger Slayer, 75 

The Gold Seekers, 75 

The Smuggler Chief, 75 

WILKIE COLLINS’ BEST WORKS. 

The Crossed Path, 1 50 | The Dead Secret, 1 50 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each one is also pub- 
lished in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

Hide and Seek, 75 I The Stolen Mask,.... 25 

After Dark, 75 The Yellow Mask, 25 

The Dead Secret, 75 ' Sister Rose, 25 

Sights A-Foot; or, Travels Beyond Railways, 50 


MISS PARDOE’S WORKS. 


Rival Beauties, 75 

Romance of the Harem, 50 


The Jealous Wife, 50 

Confessions of a Pretty Woman, 75 

The Wife’s Trials, 75 

The five above books are also bound in one volume, cloth, for $4.00. 
The Adopted Heir. One volume, paper, $1.50; or cloth, $2,00. 

A Life’s Struggle. By Miss Pardoe, one volume, cloth, $2.00. 

G. P. R. JAMES’S BOOKS. 

Lord Montague’s Page, 1 50 | The Cavalier, 1 50 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each book is also pub- 
lished in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

The Man in Black, 75 I Arrah Neil, 75 

Mary of Burgundy, 75 I Eva St. Clair, 50 

GEORGE SAND’S WORKS. 


Consuelo, 75 

Countess of Rudolstadt, 75 

First and True Love, 75 

The Corsair, 50 


Indiana, a Love Story, paper,. 1 50 

or in cloth, 2 00 

Consuelo ana Rudolstadt, both 
in one volume, cloth, 2 00 


GOOD BOOKS FOR EVERYBODY. 


The Refugee, 1 50 

Life of Don Quixotte, 1 00 

Wilfred Montressor, 1 50 

Adventures in Africa, 1 00 

Advonturesof Peregrine Pickle 1 00 

Love and Money 1 50 

Afternoon of Unmarried Life,.. 1 50 
Life and Beauties Fanny Fern, 1 50 


Lola Montez’ Life and Letters, 1 50 

CurrcrLyle, 1 50 

Wild Southern Scenes, 1 50 

Humors of Falconbridge, 1 50 

Secession, Coercion, and Civil 

War, 1 50 

What I Saw. and Where I 
Went 1 50 


Lady Maud; or, the Wonder of Kij»igswood Chase, 1 50 

Above are each in paper cover, or each one in cloth, for $2.00 each. 

Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 1 


HUMOROUS AMERICAN WORKS. 

New editions now ready , beautifully illustrated. 


Major Jones’ Courtship, 75 

Major Jones’ Travels, 75 

Simon Suggs’ Adventures and 

Travels, 75 

Major Jones’ Chronicles of 

Pineville, 75 

Polly Peablossom’3 Wedding,.. 75 

Mysteries of the Backwoods,... 75 

Widow Rugby’s Husband, 75 

Big Bear of Arkansas 75 

Western Scenes; or, Life on 

the Prairie, 75 

Streaks of Squatter Life, 75 

Pickings from the Picayune,... 75 

Stray Subjects, Arrested and 

Bound Over, 75 

Louisiana Swamp Doctor, 75 

Charcoal Sketches, 75 

Misfortunes of Peter Faber,.... 75 

Yankee among the Mermaids,.. 


New Orleans Sketch Book, 75 


Drama in Pokerville, 75 

The Quorndon Hounds, ; 75 

My Shooting Box, 75 

Warwick Woodlands, 75 

The Deer Stalkers, 75 

Peter Ploddy, 75 

Adventures of Captain Farrago, 75 

Major O’Regan’s Adventures,.. 75 

Sol. Smith’s Theatrical Appren- 
ticeship, 75 

Sol. Smith’s Theatrical Jour- 
ney-Work, 75 

The Quarter Race in Kentucky, 7 5 

Aunt Patty’s Scrap Bag, 75 

Percival Mayberry’s Adven- 
tures and Travels, 75 

Yankee Yarns and Yankee Let- 
ters, 75 

Adventures of Fudge Fumble,. 75 

American Joe Miller, 50 

Following the Drum, 50 


DISRAELI’S WORKS. 


Young Duke,,..'. 50 

Miriam Alroy, 50 

Contarina Fleming, 


50 


Henrietta Temple, 50 

Vivian Grey, 75 

Venetia, 50 

FRANK FAIRLEGH’S WORKS. 

Frank Fairlegh, 75 I Harry Racket Scapegrace, 75 

Lewis Arundel, 75 I Tom Racquet, 75 

Fine editions of above are also issued in cloth, at $2.00 each. 

Harry Coverdale’s Courtship, 1 50 I Lorrimer Littlegood, 1 50 

or in cloth, 2 00 I or in cloth, 2 00 

C. J. PETERSON’S WORKS, 

Old Stone Mansion, 1 50 | Kate Aylesford, 1 50 

The above are each in one volume, paper cover. Each one is also pub- 
lished in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

Cruising in the Last War, 75 I Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at 

Valley Farm, 25 I Saratoga, 25 

MAITLAND’S WORKS. 


The Watchman, 1 50 

The Wanderer, 1 50 

The Lawyer’s Story, 1 50 


Diary of an Old Doctor, 1 50 

Sartaroe, 1 50 

The Three Cousins, 1 50 


Above are in paper cover, or in cloth, price $2.00 each. 

MAXWELL’S WORKS. 

Wild Sports of the West, 75 I Brian O’Lynn, 75 

Stories of Waterloo, 75 I 


Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. E. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


8 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 


LANGUAGES WITHOUT A MASTER. 


French without a Master, 25 German without a Master, 25 

Spanish without a Master, 25 Italian without a Master, 25 

Latin without a Master, 25 

The above five works on the French, German, Spanish, Latin and 
Italian Languages, without a Master, whereby any one or all of these 
Languages can be learned by any one without a Teacher, with the aid of 
this great book, by A. H. Monteith, Esq., is also published in finer style, 
complete in one large volume, bound, price, $2.00. 

HARRY COCKTON’S WORKS. 


Sylvester Sound 75 I The Sisters, 75 

Valentine Vox, the Ventrilo- The Steward, 75 

quist, 75 * Percy Effingham, 75 

BOOKS OF FUN AND HUMOR. 

Each one full of Illustrations, and bound in Cloth. 


Modern Chivalry, cloth, 2 00 

High Life in New York, by 

Jonathan Slick, cloth, 2 00 

Judge Halliburton’s Yankee 
Stories, Illustrated, cloth,.... 2 00 
The Swamp Doctor’s Adven- 
tures in the South-West. 14 

illustrations, cloth, 2 00 

Major Thorpe’s Scenes in Ark- 
ansaw. 16 illustrations, cloth, 2 00 
The Big Bear’s Adventures and 
Travels. 18 engravings, cloth, 2 00 
Harry Coverdale’s Courtship 
and Marriage, cloth, 2 00 


Piney Wood’s Tavern; or, Sam 

Slick in Texas, cloth, 2 00 

Major Jones’ Courtship and 


Travels. Illustrated, cloth,. 2 00 
Simon Suggs’ Adventures and 
Travels. Illustrated, cloth,. 2 00 
Major Jones’ Scenes in Georg- 
ia, cloth, 2 00 

Sam Slick, the Clockmaker, 

cloth, 2 00 

Jack Shephard &, Guy Fawkes, 

one volume, cloth, 2 00 

Neal’s Charcoal Sketches, 21 
illustrations, 2 50 


DOW’S PATENT SERMONS. 


Dow’s Patent Sermons, 1st 

Series, $1.00 ; cloth, 1 50 

Dow’s Patent Sermons, 2d 
Series, $1.00; cloth, 1 50 


Dow’s Patent Sermons, 3d 

Series, $1.00; cloth, 

Dow’s Patent Sermons, 4th 
Series, $1.00; cloth, 


1 50 
1 50 


HENRY W. HERBERT S BOOKS. 


My Shooting Box, 

.... 75 

Quorndon Hounds, 

75 

Deer Stalkers, 

.... 75 

The Roman Traitor, one vol., 


Warwick Woodlands, 

.... 75 

cloth, $2.00; or 1vol., paper 

1 50 

ELLEN PICKERING S WORKS. 


Poor Cousin, 


Expectant, 

38 

Kate Walsingham, 

50 

Quiet Husband, 

38 

Orphan Niece, 

.... 50 

Nan Darrell, 

38 

The Grumbler, 

.... 75 

Prince and Pedlar, 

38 

Ellen War eh am, 

.... 38 

Merchant’s Daughter, 

38 

Who Shall be Heir? 

38 

The Squire, 

38 

Secret Foe, 

38 

Marrying for Menej, 

76 


Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 9 


ETIftUETTE AND USEFUL BOOKS. 

The Ladies Guide to True Politeness and Perfect Manners.' By Miss 


Leslie. Cloth, full gilt back, 2 00 

The Ladies’ Complete Guide to Needlework and Embroidery. 113 

illustrations. Cloth, full gilt back, 2 00 

Ladies’ Work Table Book, plates, cloth, gilt, 1 50 

The Gentlemen’s Science of Etiquette, 25 

The Ladies’ Science of Etiquette, 25 

The Laws and Practice of the Game of Euchre, by a Professor, 1 00 

Lardner’s One Thousand and Ten Things Worth Knowing, . 50 

Knowlson’s Complete Farrier, or Horse Doctor, 25 

Knowlson’s Complete Cow or Cattle Doctor, 25 

The Complete Kitchen and Fruit Gardener, 25 

The Complete Florist and Flower Gardener, 25 

Arthur’s Receipts for Preserving Fruits, etc., 12 

Coal and Coal Oil, and other Minerals. By Professor Bowen, 2 00 


CAPT. MARRYATT’S WORKS. 


Jacob Faithful, 50 

Japhet in Search of a Father,.. 50 

Phantom Ship, 50 

Midshipman Easy, 50 

Pacha of Many Tales, 50 

Naval Officer, 50 

Snarleyow, 50 


Newton Forster, 50 

King’s Own, 50 

Pirate and Three Cutters, 50 

Peter Simple, 50 

Percival Keene, 50 

Poor Jack, 50 

Sea King, 50 


LIVES OF HIGHWAYMEN. 


Life of John A. Murrel, 50 

Life of Joseph T. Hare, 25 

Life of Monroe Edwards, 50 

Life of Helen Jewett, 50 

Life of Jack Rann, 50 

Life of Jonathan Wild, 25 

Life of Henry Thomas, 25 

Life of Dick Turpin, 50 

Life of Arthur Spring,., 25 

Life of Jack Ketch, 25 

Ninon De L’Enclos, 25 

Desperadoes of the New World, 25 

Mysteries of New Orleans, 50 

The Robber’s Wife, 25 

Obi; or, Three Fingered Jack, 25 

Kit Clayton, 25 

Lives of the Felons, 25 

Life of Tom Waters, 25 

Life of Mrs. Whipple and Jesse 

Strang, 25 

Nat Blake, 25 

Bill Horton, 25 

Galloping Gus : 


25 


Ned Hastings, 25 

Biddy Woodhull, 25 

Eveleen Wilson, 25 

Diary of a Pawnbroker, 50 

Silver and Pewter, 25 

Sweeney Todd, 25 

Life of Mother Brownrig, 25 

Dick Parker, the Pirate, 25 

Life of Mary Bateman,.,.. 25 

Life of Captain Blood, ..T.^ 25 

Capt. Blood and the Beagles,.. 25 
Sixteen. Stringed Jack’s Fight 

for Life, 25 

Highwayman’s Avenger, 25 

Life of Raoul De Surville, 25 

Life of Sybil Grey, 50 

Life of Rody the Rover, 25 

Life of Galloping Dick, 25 

Life of Grace O’Malley, 50 

Life of Jack Shephard, 50 

Life of Davy Crockett, 50 

Life of Guy Fawkes, 75 

Life and Adventures ofVidocq, 1 50 


HR. HOLLICK’S WORKS. 

Dr. Hollick’s great work on Anatomy and Physiology of the Human 

Figure, with plates, 50 

Dr. Hollick’s Family Ph ysician, 25 

(£7- Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brother?, Philadelphia, Pa. 


10 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 


EXCITING SEA TALES. 


Adventures of Ben Brace, 

75 

Yankees in Japan, 

Jack Adams, the Mutineer,.... 

75 

Charles Ransford, 

Jack Ariel’s Adventures, 

75 

Morgan, the Buccaneer, 

Petrel ,• or, Life on the Ocean,. 

50 

Jack Junk, 

Yankee Jack, 

50 

Davis, the Pirate, 

Red Wing, 

50 

Valdez, the Pirate, 

Life of Paul Periwinkle, 

50 

The Iron Cross, L... 

Life of Alexander Tardy, 

25 

Gallant Tom,.... 

Life of Tom Bowling, 

75 

Harry Helm, 

Percy Effingham, 

75 

Harry Tempest, 

Red King, 

50 

Rebel and Rover, 

Cruising in the Last War, 

75 

Jacob Faithful, 

Phantom Ship, 

The Corsair, 

50 

The Pirate’s Son, 

The Doomed Ship, 

25 

Midshipman Easy, 

25 

Pacha of Many Tales, 

The Three Pirates, 

50 

Naval Officer, 

The Flying Dutchman, 

50 

Snarleyow, 

The Flying Yankee, 

25 

Newton Forster, 

The Yankee Middy, 

25 

King’s Own, 

The Gold Seekers, 

25 

Japhet, 

The River Pirates, 

25 

Tirate and Three Cutters, 

The King’s Cruisers, 

Man-of-War’s-Man, 

25 

Peter Simple, 

25 

Percival Keene,. 

Dark Shades of City Life, 

25 

Poor Jack, 

The Rats of the Seine, 

25 

Sea King,...,* 

AINSWORTH’S GREAT WORKS. 

Life of Jack Shephard, 

50 

Desperadoes of the New World, 

Life of Davy Crockett, 

50 

Ninon De L’Enclos, 

Guy Fawkes, 

75 

Court of the Stuarts, 

The Star Chamber, 

75 

Windsor Castle, 

Life of Arthur Spring, 

Old St. Paul’s, 

Court of Queen Anne, 

75 

50 

Life of Grace O’Malley, 

Dick Turpin, 

50 

Tower of London,.... 

Life of Henry Thomas, 

25 

Miser’s Daughter, .. 

Life of Mrs Whipple, 

25 


MILITARY NOVELS. 

With Illuminated Military Covers, in five Colors. 


Charles O’Malley, 75 

Jack Hinton, the Guardsman, 75 

The Knight of Gwynne, 75 

Harry Lorrequer, 75 

Tom Burke of Ours, 75 

Arthur O’Leary, 75 

Con Cregan, 75 

Kate O’Donoghue, 75 

Horace Templeton, 75 

Davenport Dunn, 75 

Following the Drum, 50 

Valentine Vox, 75 

Twin Lieutenants, 75 

Stories of Waterloo, 75 

The Soldier’s Wife, 75 

Guerilla Chief, 75 


Jack Adams’ Adventures, 

The Three Guardsmen, 

Twenty Years After, 

Bragelonne, Son of Atho 3 , 

Wallace, the Hero of Scotland, 

Forty-five Guardsmen, 

Tom Bowling’s Adventures,... 

Life of Robert Bruce, 

The Gipsy Chief, 

Massacre of Glencoe, 

Life of Guy Fawkes, 

Child of Waterloo, 

Adventures of Ben Brace, 

Life of Jack Ariel, 

The Quaker Soldier, 

The Conscript, 


25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

25 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 


25 

25 

75 

75 

25 

50 

1 00 
1 00 


75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
75 
1 50 
1 50 


Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Prioe, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 11 


MILITARY AND ARMY BOOKS. 


Ellsworth’s Zouave Drill, 

U. S. Light Infantry Drill, 

U. S. Government Infantry & 
Rifle Tactics, 


25 

25 

25 


The Soldier’s Companion,....,. 

The Soldier’s Guide, 

Volunteer’s Text Book, 


EUGENE SUE’S WORKS. 


Wandering Jew., 

Mysteries of Paris, 

Martin, the Foundling, 
First Love, 


1 

1 

1 


50 

50 

50 

50 


Woman’s Love, 

Female Bluebeard, 

Man-of-War’s-Man, 

Life of Raoul De Surville,, 


25 

25 

50 


50 

50 

25 

25 


J. F. SMITH’S WOEKS. 


The Usurer’s Victim; or, I Adelaide Waldgrave; or, Trials 
Thomas Balscombe, 75 1 of a Governess, 


75 


REVOLUTIONARY TALES. 


The Brigand, 50 

Ralph Runnion, 50 

Seven Brothers of Wyoming,.. 25 

The Rebel Bride, 25 

The Flying Artillerist, 25 

Old Put, 25 


Wau-nan-gee, 50 

Legends of Mexico, 50 

Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at 

Saratoga, 25 

The Guerilla Chief, 75 

The Quaker Soldier,.... 1 50 


EMERSON BENNETT’S WORKS. 


The Border Rover, 1 50 

Clara Moreland, 1 50 

Viola; or Adventures in the 

Far South-West, 1 50 

Above are each in paper cover, 
volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

The Heiress of Bellefonte, and 
Walde-Warren, 50 


Bride of the Wilderness, 1 50 

Ellen Norbury, i 50 

The Forged Will, 1 50 

Kate Clarendon, 1 50 

Each book is also published in one 

I Pioneer’s Daughter and Un- 
known Countess, 50 


T. S. ARTHUR’S WORKS. 


The Two Brides, 50 

Love in a Cottage, 50 

Love in High Life,-. 50 

Year after Marriage, 50 

The Lady at Home, 50 

Cecelia Howard, 50 

Orphan Children, 50 

Debtor’s Daughter, 50 

Mary Moreton, _ 50 

Six Nights with the Washingtonians. 


The Divorced Wife,.. 50 


Pride and Prudence, 50 

Agnes; or, the Possessed, 50 

Lucy Sandford, 50 

The Banker’s Wife, 50 

The Two Merchants, 50 

Insubordination, 50 

Trial and Triumph, 50 

The Iron Rule, 50 

With nine original Illustra- 


tions. By Cruikshank. One volume, cloth $2.00; or in paper, ...$1.50 
Lizzie Glenn ; or, the Trials of a Seamstress. Cloth $2.00 ; or paper, 1.50 

CHRISTY & WHITE’S SONG BOOKS. 

Christy & Wood’s Song Book, 13 | Serenader’s Song Book, 13 

Melodeon Song Book,.... 13 Budwortn’s Songs,.... 13 

Plantation Melodies, 13 Christy and White’s Complete 

Ethiopian Song Book, 13 Ethiopian Melodies. Cloth, 1 00 

Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


12 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS’ PUBLICATIONS. 


MRS. GREY’S WORKS. 

Cousin Harry, 1 50 | The Little Beauty, 1 50 

Above are in paper cover, or in one volume, cloth, price $2.00 each. 

Young Prirna Donna, 50 

Hyacinthe, 25 

Alice Seymour, 25 

Mary Seaham, 75 

Passion and Principle, 75 

The Flirt, 75 

Good Society, 75 

Lion-Hearted, 75 


Gipsy’s Daughter, ... v 

Old Dower House...... 

Belle of the Family, 

.... 50 

.... 50 

.... 50 

Duke and Cousin, 

.... 50 

The Little Wife, 

.... 50 

Lena Cameron, 

.... 50 

Sybil Lennard, 

.... 50 

Manoeuvring Mother 

.... 50 

Baronet’s Daughters, 

.... 50 


GEOEGE EIPPAED’S WOEKS. 


The Quaker City, ] 50 

Paul Ardenheim, 1 50 

Blanche of Brandy wine, 1 50 

Mysteries of Florence, 1 00 

The Empire City, 75 

Memoirs of a Preacher, 75 

The Nazarene, 75 

Washington and his Men, 75 


Washington and his Generals; 
or, Legends of the American 

Revolution, 1 50 

Legends of Mexico, 50 

The Entranced, 25 

The Robbers, 25 

The Bank Director’s Son, 25 

Ride with the Dead, 50 


NEW AND GOOD BOOKS. 


Crock of Gold. By Tupper,... 50 
Twins and Heart. By Tupper, 50 

Life of Bishop Hughes, 25 

Life of General McClellan, 50 

Life of General Butler, 25 

Life of General Meade, 25 

The Deformed, 25 

Two Prima Donnas, 25 

The Haunted House, 25 

Tom Tiddler’s Ground, 25 

The Mysterious Marriage, 25 

Jack Downing’s Letters, 25 

The Mysteries of a Convent,... 25 

Bell Brandon, 25 

Rose Warrington, 25 

The Iron Cross, 25 

Charles Ransford, 25 

Sybil Grey, 50 

Female Life in New York, 25 

Agnes Grey, 25 

Legends of Mexico, 50 

Eva St. Clair, 50 

Diary of a Physician,. 


50 

The Emigrant Squire, 25 

The Monk, by Lewis, 50 

The Beautiful French Girl,.... 25 

The Mysteries of Bedlam, 25 

The Nobleman’s Daughter,.... 25 

Madison’s Exposition of Odd 
Fellowship, 25 


The Book of Ghost Stories,.... 25 

The Admiral’s Daughter, 25 

The Wreck of the Golden Mary, 25 

Perils of English Prisoners,.... 25 

The American Joe Miller, 50 

Ladies’ Science of Etiquette,... 25 

Gentlemen’s Science Etiquette, 25 

Grace Dudley; or, Arnold at 

Saratoga, 25 

The Valley Farm, 25 

Ella Stratford, 50 

Edgar Montrose ; or, the Mys- 
terious Penitent, 

The Abbey of Innismoyle, 25 

Gliddon’s Ancient Egypt, 25 

Josephine, by Grace Aguilar,.. 50 

Philip in Search of a Wife, 25 

Father Tom and the Pope, 25 

The Oxonians, 50 

The Roue; or, the Hazards of 

Women, 25 

Hollick’s Family Physician,... 25 

Robert Oaklands; or, the Out- 
cast Orphan, 50 

Abednego, the Money Lender,. 50 

Falkland, 25 

Rifle Shots, 25 

Jenny Ambrose, 25 

A House to Let, 25 

The Two Apprentices, 25 


50 


Books sent, postage paid, on receipt of the Retail Price, by 
T. B. Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, Pa. 


rjF* VOLTJU CLXJJ3IB FOR 1SOO! 


PETERSO N’S MA GAZINE. 

DOUBLE-SIZE COLORED STEEL FASHION PLATES ! 

For many years <c Peterson’s Magazine” lias had a larger circulation than 
vny other monthly in the United States. In 1806 it will be greatly improved : 

reading matter will be increased , and each number will contain a Double-Size 
tffr BEL Fashion Plate, elegantly colored, with from four to six figures: making 
Aderson” more desirable than ever! The terms will remain two dollars a year> 
with liberal deductions to clubs. Containing nearly one thousand pages annually, 
feurteen steel engravings, twelve double-size fashion plates, and eight hundred 
wood-cuts, it will be, in 1866, beyond all question, 

THE CHEAPEST MA@A2(lfCE 8M THE WORLD, 

The novelets and tales are acknowledged to be the very best. More money 
is paid for original stories than by any other Magazine of the Jcind. In 1866, in 
addition to the usual array of shorter stories, Four Copy-righted Novelets wili 
HE GIVEN, viz : 

THE SOLDIER'S ORPHANS, by Mrs. Ann St. Stephens. 

THE STOLEN BOND, by the Author of “The Second Life.’ 
UIE OLD MILL OF AMOSKEAG, by the Author of “Susy L ! s Diary ” 

Mrs. SHODDY’S SKELETON,’ by Frank Lee Benedict, 

In its Illustrations also, “ Peterson” is unrivalled. The Publisher challenges 
a comparison between its 

SUPERB MEZZOTINTS & other STEEL ENGRAVINGS 

And those in other Magazines, and one at least is given in each number. 

DOUBLE-SIZE COLORED FASHION PLATES 

Each number will contain a double-size Fashion plate, engraved on steel 
and handsomely colored. These plates will be twice the size of those heretofore 
given : and will excel anything of the kind yet seen. In addition, wood-cuts of 
the newest bonnets, hats, caps, head-dresses, cloaks, jackets, ball dresses, walking 
dresses, house dresses, &c., &c., will appear in each number. Also, the greatest 
variety of children’s dresses. Also, a diagram, by aid of which a cloak, dress, or 
child’s costume can be cut out, without the aid of a mantua-maker, so that 
each number in this way alone, will save a year's subscription. 

COLORED PATTERNS IN BERLIN WORK , &e. 

No other Magazine gives the beautiful and expensive patterns for Berlin 
Work, &c., printed in colors, for which Peterson” is celebrated. Many of these, 
at a retail store, would cost fifty cents These will be kept up. Each number 
will also give patterns in Crochet, Embroidery, Knitting, Ac., &c., 

memuws mu €4$a»&Y, &g,; &u. 

Carefully tested receipts will appear monthly, for the Table, the Toilet, the 
Sick Room, the Nursery, &c. Also, hints on Horticulture, Furnishing, &c. 
These alone, at the end of the year, will be worth the price of the Magazine. 
A piece of New and Fashionable Music in each number. 


1 Copy, for one year 
3 Copies, “ 


TERMS— ALWAYS IN ADVANCE. 

$2.00 5 Copies, (and 1 to getter up Club.) $ 8.00 

4.50 8 “ (and 1 to getter up Club.) 12 00 

6.00 14 “ (and 1 to getter up Club.) 20.00 

A CHOICE OF PREMIUMS. Where a person is entitled to aa 
extra copy for getting up a Club, there will be sent, if preferred, instead of the 
extra copy, a superb premium mezzotint for framing, (size 27 inches by 20,) 
i> Washington parting from his Generals,” or a Lady’s Illustrated Album, 
Handsomely bound and gilt. Always state whether an extra copy, or one of these 
other premiums , is preferred', and notice that for Clubs of three or four, no 
premiums are given. In remitting, get a post-office order or a draft on Phila- 
delphia oi New York : if neither of these can bo had, send green-backs or bank 
notes _ Address, post-paid, 

CHARLES J. PETERSON, 

No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Fa. 

Specimens sent, if written for. 




cuumi book mi n the wo 

To Sutlers! Pedlars! Booksellers! News Agents! etc. 


T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS 
Ho. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 

PUBLISH THE MOST SALEABLE BOOKS IN THE WORLI 

AND SUPPLY ALL BOOKS AT VERY LOW RATES. 

The cheapest place in the world to buy or send for a stock of a 
kinds of Books, suitable for all persons whatever, for Soldiers, and f( 
the Army, and for all other reading, is at the Bookselling and Pul 
lishing House of T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, Philadelphit 

Any person wanting any books at all, in any quantity, from a sing; 
book to a dozen, a hundred, thousand, ten thousand, or larger quantit 
of books, had better send on their orders at once to the “ CHEAT 
eST BOOKSELLING AND PUBLISHING HOUSE IN TH! 
WORLD,” which is at T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, No. 30 
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, who have the largest stock in the cotpj 
try, and will supply them and sell them cheaper than any other hous 
tn the world. We publish a large variety of Military Novels, wit 
Illustrated Military covers, in colors, besides thousands of others, a 
of which are the best selling and most popular books in the world 
We have just issued a new and complete Catalogue, copies of whic^ 
we will send gratuitously to all on their sending for one. 

Enclose one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty, a hundred, or a thousanj 
dollars, or more, to us in a letter, or per express, and write what kin; 
of books you wish, and they will be packed and sent to you at once, pc; 
first express or mail, or in any other way you may direct, just as we; 
assorted, and the same as if you were on the spot, with circulars, sho 1 
bills, &c., gratis. All we ask is to give us a trial. 

Address all orders for any books you may want at all, no matter bi 
whom published, or how small or how large your order may be, to th 
Cheapest Publishing and Bookselling House in the world , which is o 

- cL B.JETERSON &, BROTHERS, 

* No. 306 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, I 

And "they will be packed and sent to you within an hour after receip 
>f the order,, per express or railroad, or in any other way you may direct 

Agents, Sutlers, and Pedlars wanted everywhere, to engage in th 
rale of onr popular selling Books, all of which will be sold at very low rates 








v<\ 


* o 



^ ^ A V 

■ ,, aV # *‘V.‘ # jl , ^% 

-<> < O *> c^CVv k • O 

. * A v* 





^ V V 

* Sp X 

° <* \X> * 

° ^ «* 

° <V> <<* O 

-fc ^ ^ u w 

v \L V * ^ ^ 

s . cr a y o * w * <■ 

^Uj, v . a\ 

o° ■%. 

* A v* 



, -i ■0 J c o *■ * „ 

■ c5^ */''!£/%/'= "Xn cA “ 

^ S «= A V \ ; w .>7 -y »\ v 


«>^ V 

* O 0 N * 

* i * 

«. S ~C{, 

fyu ^ _ N/ > 

^ c#v y >, 

n 4 s » * , <*>. 3 m 

v V>®LV., .^y 





* V 

» N o V v , * in 4 ' s ** , ^ 

Cy ^ ^ * 0 /• ^> y, s s ' // 

^ A ^ ^'rv \\-* ^ i! y^^filtl l l^ <* 




v, 

° A .A “ 

21 z 

O c$ o 

A y *' < ^ „V? n a 

* ‘ 

'. -.A ^ V 1 


„•>* ,0° 

O^* ^ 'i * o 

•%/ -W 

^ v, JXU/y ^ 




' *&% . 


c, <> 

> ^ ^ 

c A 

v ‘ 8 « ^ aV c 0 N c * *1- 0 

f $ rvTsrv ^ 


'/*■ a i • \- . p 

***0* *CV . _ V x _ 

r. Deacidified using the Bookkeeper i 

pWA 5 Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium 0> 

^ \ Treatment Date: 



^ V* 




rntitnVA l IUN I tbril'l 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Twp., PA 16066 
(412) 779-2111 




r yy 


,o° 




c . J- * 

»'*», x? s' 

* G * * V s/t (jfoW f 



V^“ ssV A 0 ^ V 
^ r\ v <* v 



' « a sG> r ^ 

, VVVW3 ^ w <* 

c^v ✓ vy ^ i * p.0 O L 

^ *«K0’i° _ *»n 

a cv 

* 

o 





p. * 

«>■ . • 1 • * *<« ' 0 * ‘ * .0>' , o - c „ '\*‘ * * '' . V l » 



* >V A' <•• 

- V s * 

o » '<* ' ^LIIW^S^ ° $ ° ^ 

V \V" ^ ^AVVVS^ ^ + 

^ ' » o N o ’ . A® * C ^. ^ » 

V X s'** ^ > .9* * V 

v ✓ A* * 

r- ^ O . 8&2&J/A ° 



VV 

\V «/» 


*. \ 

,»' # ^ y «y 0 „ o 

.p. 

v ,'/> A'V 



^ «>’ 


<y 


* v ** 


: 4> y ^ ^ 

V^ y 0 * X " ^\ ' 0 N c * V ^ 1 * * S S ^ / 0 * * *^\ X c o N C 

+*■ $ ? ; f 0 0 \ ; : a v 4 : 

■o° </ . . vSP*V 0 ' °v* 

^ ^‘ r> A* * * ->t 

o <P .V\ 

<P IV - v> - Z 


i. 0o x. 





8 1 *t 


V" o > 0 !«'"* 

, ° • V ^ 



,/ •, 

^ A <X ** / 


<» 


■ > bo' 



, ^ 





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





